dust of N159W , a young star-forming region located ~ 150,000 light years distant in the Large Magellanic Cloud . The 100 young stellar object ( YSO ) candidates associated with N159W lie mostly at the border of the ionized ( HII ) bubble — where cold , neutral material accumulates in clumps and subclusters — and displays signs of recent active star formation . In contrast , the estimated age of the two ( blue ) massive stars and the associated cluster at the bubble ’ s center is about two million years . Thus , the authors suggest that the first generation of massive stars at the bubble ’ s core triggered the recent birth of the YSOs around the periphery . A Gemini image release features this work , and full results will be published in Astronomy and Astrophysics . A preprint is now available .
The discovery of a 0.77 M Jupiter exoplanet located within 0.06 astronomical units of V830 Tauri — a young (< 2 million years ) T-Tauri star — confirms both rapid planet formation and early migration . Such early forming “ hot Jupiters ” likely play a key role in shaping planetary systems overall .
High-resolution spectroscopy over a 1.5-month campaign revealed the presence of the exoplanet in a telltale spectral “ wobble ,” leading the discovery team to isolate the signal of the planet , find its orbit , and determine its mass ( Figure 13 ). Jean-François Donati ( Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées , France ) led the work , which took advantage of the novel collaboration between the Gemini Observatory and the Canada-France-Hawai ‘ i Telescope ( CFHT ) in GRACES ( Gemini Remote Access to CFHT ESPaDOnS Spectrograph ). GRACES uses an innovative 270-meter fiber cable to transport light from Gemini North ’ s 8-meter mirror to the ESPaDOnS Spectrograph at CFHT . For this work , the researchers also used ESPa- DOnS on CFHT and the spectropolarimeter NARVAL on the 2-meter Telescope Bernard Lyot . Full results appear in Nature and are featured on the Gemini web page .
Figure 12 . Gemini South GeMS / GSAOI near-infrared image of the N159W field in the Large Magellanic Cloud . The image spans 1.5 arcminutes across , resolves stars to about 0.09 arcsecond , and is a composite of three filters ( J , H , and K s in blue , green , and red , respectively ). Integration time for each filter was 25 minutes . Color composite image by Travis Rector , University of Alaska Anchorage .
Figure 13 . Radial velocity ( RV ) measurements of V830 Tauri , after filtering out stellar activity , reveal the presence of a “ hot Jupiter .” Data from ESPaDOnS / Gemini , ESPaDOnS / CFHT , and NARVAL / TBL are plotted as triangles , circles , and squares , respectively , with colors that code rotation cycles . Lines show fits to circular ( solid ) and eccentric ( dashed ) orbits .
Innovative Gemini / CFHT Partnership Explores a “ Hot Jupiter ”
The exploration of other worlds has shown that gas-giant planets lie very close to their host stars . As they could not have formed in their present locations ( radiation would have dissolved them ) questions remain : do these giants move close-in when the system is young , after interacting with the protoplanetary disk , or do they only move later , following interaction with multiple planets ?
January 2017 | 2016 Year in Review GeminiFocus
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