Pre-Discovery 2007 Image of the HR 8799 Planetary System

We present a pre-discovery H-band image of the HR 8799 planetary system that reveals all three planets in 2007 August. The data were obtained with the Keck adaptive optics system, using angular differential imaging and a coronagraph. We confirm the physical association of all three planets, includin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Astrophysical journal. Letters 2009-11, Vol.705 (2), p.L204-L207
Main Authors: Metchev, Stanimir, Marois, Christian, Zuckerman, B
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ALKANES
ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
ATMOSPHERES
DUSTS
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
HYDROCARBONS
METHANE
OPTICS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PLANETS
RADIATIONS
STARS
VISIBLE RADIATION
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Summary:We present a pre-discovery H-band image of the HR 8799 planetary system that reveals all three planets in 2007 August. The data were obtained with the Keck adaptive optics system, using angular differential imaging and a coronagraph. We confirm the physical association of all three planets, including HR 8799d, which had only been detected in 2008 images taken two months apart, and whose association with HR 8799 was least secure until now. We confirm that the planets are 2-3 mag fainter than field brown dwarfs of comparable near-infrared colors. We note that similar underluminosity is characteristic of young substellar objects at the L/T spectral type transition, and is likely due to enhanced dust content and non-equilibrium CO/CH4 chemistry in their atmospheres. Finally, we place an upper limit of 18 mag arcsec-2 on the >120 AU H-band dust-scattered light from the HR 8799 debris disk. The corresponding integrated scattered light flux is
ISSN:1538-4357
0004-637X
2041-8205
1538-4357
DOI:10.1088/0004-637X/705/2/L204