Extrasolar Giant Planets in the Sigma Orionis Open Cluster: a Progress Report

Martín, E. L.; Zapatero Osorio, M. R.; Barrado Y Navascués, D.; Béjar, V. J. S.; Caballero, J. A.; Rebolo, R.; Eisloffel, J.; Mundt, R.
Referencia bibliográfica

Extrasolar Planets: Today and Tomorrow, ASP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 321, held 30 June - 4 July 2003, Institut D'Astrophysique de Paris, France. Edited by Jean-Philippe Beaulieu, Alain Lecavelier des Etangs and Caroline Terquem. ISBN: 1-58381-183-4, 2004, p.193

Fecha de publicación:
12
2004
Número de autores
8
Número de autores del IAC
0
Número de citas
2
Número de citas referidas
1
Descripción
We report on our ongoing efforts to probe for extrasolar giant planets in the Sigma Orionis open cluster. With an age of about 3 Myr, a distance of about 440 pc and very low reddening, this cluster provides a privileged hunting ground for brown dwarfs and superplanets. Several L dwarfs and one T dwarf have been identified in the cluster. Assuming cluster membership, their masses, estimated from evolutionary models, range from 15 to 3 Jupiter masses. These objects appear to be numerous, indicating that superplanets could be more abundant free floating in interstellar space than in orbits around normal stars.