干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

This radial velocity survey was initiated to study the earliest stages of planet formation with the primary goal to explore the origins of the brown dwarf desert. After three seasons of observations, our search for spectroscopic signatures of substellar companions to young stars in the Taurus star forming region is yielding intriguing results. We have observed several dozen targets at high cadence to date Using the Coude echelle spectrograph at the McDonald Observatory 2.7 meter telescope. We obtain a measurement precision of similar to 120 m/s. Our expectation is that faux radial velocity variations induced by star spots will he substantial in these systems. While we see clear evidence of this, we also see indications for the presence of a true substlellar companion ill at least two cases so far. Longterm, well-sampled programs are crucial for the unambiguous identification of the first, generation of brown dwarfs and planets.