Skip to content
DraconiticResearch
Search Sources API
182,544 studies31 sourcesUpdated 9 min ago
Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

An HST survey of photometry and multiplicity of brown dwarfs and planetary-mass objects in the field of Taurus

  • Pengyu Liu1,2,3,4,5
  • Beth A Biller1,2
  • Clémence Fontanive1,2
  • Michele Scalco6
  • Loïc Albert7,8
  • Luigi R Bedin9
  • Matthew De Furio10
  • Belinda Damian11
  • Jessy Jose12
  • Zhoujian Zhang13
  • Wen-Ping Chen14,15
  • Sophie Dubber1,2
2 more authors
  • Bhavana Lalchand14,16
  • Michael C Liu17
17 affiliations
  1. 1Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh , Royal Observatory, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ ,
  2. 2Centre for Exoplanet Science, University of Edinburgh , Edinburgh ,
  3. 3Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, Gorlaeus Building , Einsteinweg 55, 2333 CC Leiden ,
  4. 4School of Science, Westlake University Department of Astronomy, , Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310030 ,
  5. 5Institute of Natural Sciences, Westlake Institute for Advanced Study , Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310024 ,
  6. 6Indiana University Department of Astronomy, , Swain West, 727 E. 3rd Street, Bloomington, IN 47405 ,
  7. 7Département de Physique and Observatoire du Mont-Mégantic , Université de Montréal, C.P. 6128, Succ. Centre-ville, Montréal, H3C 3J7, Québec ,
  8. 8Observatoire du Mont-Mégantic, Université de Montréal, C.P. 6128, Succ. Centre-ville , Montréal, H3C 3J7, Québec ,
  9. 9Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF), Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova , Vicolo dell’Osservatorio 5, Padova I-35122 ,
  10. 10The University of Texas at Austin Department of Astronomy, , 2515 Speedway, Stop C1400, Austin, TX 78712 ,
  11. 11SUPA, School of Physics, and Astronomy, University of St Andrews , North Haugh, St Andrews, KY16 9SS ,
  12. 12Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Tirupati, Yerpedu Department of Physics, , Tirupati - 517619, Andhra Pradesh ,
  13. 13University of Rochester Department of Physics & Astronomy, , Rochester, NY 14627 ,
  14. 14Institute of Astronomy, National Central University , 300 Zhongda Road, Zhongli 32001 Taoyuan ,
  15. 15National Central University Department of Physics, , 300 Zhongda Road, Zhongli 32001 Taoyuan ,
  16. 16Yunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Kuming 650216 ,
  17. 17Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawai’i , 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu HI 96822 ,
Open at sourcePDFDOICite

Abstract

We present a photometric and multiplicity survey of 26 young objects with masses between 6 MJ and 37 MJ and spectral type later than M8 in the Taurus star-forming region with the Hubble Space Telescope. We search for companion candidates using two methods: a dedicated photometric technique based on the combination of colours from multi-band photometry and point spread function fitting. No companion candidates are detected beyond 30 au. With an updated membership and age identification, we determine luminosity, temperature, and mass for the 26 young objects using evolutionary models. We demonstrate that our HST observations are sensitive to companions down to masses of 1 MJ and even lower for some targets by artificial star injection tests. After survey completeness correction, we derive a binary frequency <6.5% for this sample in the 68% confidence interval for companions with mass ratios between 0.1 and 1 and separations between 30 and 7,000 au. We find no significant difference in binary frequency among planetary-mass objects in Taurus, Upper Scorpius, and the field. These findings support that the binary frequency of planetary-mass objects is settled at young ages, probably younger than 1–10 Myr, suggesting that the formation of wide-orbit planetary-mass binaries is inefficient and the disruption of them likely occurs at a very early stage in a low density environment.

Related

  1. The Connection between Flares and Starspots on M Dwarfs Based on TESS Photometry
    Chunxiang Wang, Jiaxin Wang, Yanjun He +5
    The Astrophysical Journal Supplement SeriesPeer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Full textSolar & stellar physicsCrossref
  2. Euclid Early Release Observations of the Barnard 30 dark cloud I. Brown dwarfs and planetary mass candidate members at the core of the association
    D Barrado, H Bouy, E.L Martin +8
    HALPreprintLicence not statedGeneral astronomyGeneral physicsHAL
  3. SOPHIE and TESS characterization of fourteen TESS objects of interest: Nine planetary systems and five low-mass stellar companions
    N. Heidari, G. Hébrard, S. Sousa +61
    Astronomy & AstrophysicsPeer-reviewedPublisher termsSolar & stellar physicsCrossref
  4. Planetary Accretion Is Less Frequent in Wide Binaries: Evidence from Metal-Enriched White Dwarfs in DESI DR1
    Siyi Xu, Laura.K Rogers, Joan Najita +32
    HALPreprintCC BY 4.0Full textPlanetary science & exoplanetsSolar & stellar physicsHALarXiv
  5. Planetary Accretion Is Less Frequent in Wide Binaries: Evidence from Metal-enriched White Dwarfs in DESI DR1
    Siyi 偲艺 Xu 许, Laura. K. Rogers, Joan Najita +33
    The Astrophysical JournalPeer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Full textSolar & stellar physicsIOP/AASCrossref

Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{liu2026survey,
  title = {{An HST survey of photometry and multiplicity of brown dwarfs and planetary-mass objects in the field of Taurus}},
  author = {Pengyu Liu and Beth A Biller and Clémence Fontanive and Michele Scalco and Loïc Albert and Luigi R Bedin and Matthew De Furio and Belinda Damian and Jessy Jose and Zhoujian Zhang and Wen-Ping Chen and Sophie Dubber and Bhavana Lalchand and Michael C Liu},
  journal = {Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.1093/mnras/stag2058},
  url = {https://academic.oup.com/mnras/advance-article/doi/10.1093/mnras/stag2058/9004103},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - An HST survey of photometry and multiplicity of brown dwarfs and planetary-mass objects in the field of Taurus
AU  - Pengyu Liu
AU  - Beth A Biller
AU  - Clémence Fontanive
AU  - Michele Scalco
AU  - Loïc Albert
AU  - Luigi R Bedin
AU  - Matthew De Furio
AU  - Belinda Damian
AU  - Jessy Jose
AU  - Zhoujian Zhang
AU  - Wen-Ping Chen
AU  - Sophie Dubber
AU  - Bhavana Lalchand
AU  - Michael C Liu
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/28
JO  - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
DO  - 10.1093/mnras/stag2058
UR  - https://academic.oup.com/mnras/advance-article/doi/10.1093/mnras/stag2058/9004103
AB  - We present a photometric and multiplicity survey of 26 young objects with masses between 6 MJ and 37 MJ and spectral type later than M8 in the Taurus star-forming region with the Hubble Space Telescope. We search for companion candidates using two methods: a dedicated photometric technique based on the combination of colours from multi-band photometry and point spread function fitting. No companion candidates are detected beyond 30 au. With an updated membership and age identification, we determine luminosity, temperature, and mass for the 26 young objects using evolutionary models. We demonstrate that our HST observations are sensitive to companions down to masses of 1 MJ and even lower for some targets by artificial star injection tests. After survey completeness correction, we derive a binary frequency <6.5% for this sample in the 68% confidence interval for companions with mass ratios between 0.1 and 1 and separations between 30 and 7,000 au. We find no significant difference in binary frequency among planetary-mass objects in Taurus, Upper Scorpius, and the field. These findings support that the binary frequency of planetary-mass objects is settled at young ages, probably younger than 1–10 Myr, suggesting that the formation of wide-orbit planetary-mass binaries is inefficient and the disruption of them likely occurs at a very early stage in a low density environment.
SN  - 0035-8711
SN  - 1365-2966
ER  -