COULD THE PLANETS AROUND HR 8799 BE BROWN DWARFS?

2010/08/30 by Amaya Moro‐Martín, Amaya Moro-Martin, G. H. Rieke +3 · 58 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Brown dwarf #Limiting #Physics #Planet #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph.EP #astro-ph.SR

paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/2041-8205/721/2/l199

published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters 721(2), L199-L202 (IOP Publishing) · 4 pages, 2 figures, accepted by ApJ Letters

arxiv created 2010/08/30 · openalex publication_date 2010/09/16 · arxiv updated 2015/05/19 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

We consider the limiting case for orbital stability of the companions to HR 8799. This case is only consistent with ages for the system of ∼100 Myr, not with the 1 Gyr age proposed from asteroseismology. The discrepancy probably arises because the inclination of the star is smaller than assumed in analyzing the asteroseismology data. Given this young age, the best estimates of the companion masses place them by a small margin on the planet side of the division between planets and brown dwarfs.

Citations

• Age determination of the HR8799 planetary system using asteroseismology
• Evolutionary models for cool brown dwarfs and extrasolar giant planets. The case of HD 209458
• THE LOW LEVEL OF DEBRIS DISK ACTIVITY AT THE TIME OF THE LATE HEAVY BOMBARDMENT: ASPITZERSTUDY OF PRAESEPE
• Optical Images of an Exosolar Planet 25 Light-Years from Earth
• HST /NICMOS DETECTION OF HR 8799 b IN 1998
• Direct Imaging of Multiple Planets Orbiting the Star HR 8799
• A possible architecture of the planetary system HR 8799