Direct detection of a substellar companion to the young nearby star PZ Telescopii

Abstract

Aims: We study the formation of substellar objects (exoplanets and brown dwarfs) as companions to young nearby stars. Methods: With high contrast AO imaging obtained with NACO at ESO's VLT we search for faint companion-candidates around our targets, whose companionship can be confirmed with astrometry. Results: In the course of our imaging campaign we found a faint substellar companion of the nearby pre-main sequence star PZ Tel, a member of the beta Pic moving group. The companion is 5-6 mag fainter than its host star in JHK and is located at a separation of only 0.3 arcsec (or 15 AU of projected separation) north-east of PZ Tel. Within three NACO observing epochs we could confirm common proper motion (>39 sigma) and detected orbital motion of PZ Tel B around its primary (>37 sigma). The photometry of the newly found companion is consistent with a brown dwarf with a mass of 24 to 40 MJup, at the distance (50 pc) and age (8-20 Myr) of PZ Tel. The effective temperature of the companion, derived from its photometry, ranges between 2500 and 2700 K, which corresponds to a spectral type between M6 and M8. After beta Pic b, PZ Tel B is the second closest substellar companion imaged directly around a young star.

accepted for publication in A&A Letters

References in corpus (5)

• A giant planet imaged in the disk of the young star Beta Pictoris
• The Gemini NICI Planet-Finding Campaign: Discovery of a Close Substellar Companion to the Young Debris Disk Star PZ Tel
• Spitzer/MIPS Observations of Stars in the Beta Pictoris Moving Group
• Direct evidence of a sub-stellar companion around CT Cha
• Resolved debris disk emission around eta Tel: a young Solar System or ongoing planet formation?

Cited by in corpus (30)

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• The near-infrared spectral energy distribution of β Pictoris b
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• Reaching the boundary between stellar kinematic groups and very wide binaries. III. Sixteen new stars and eight new wide systems in the beta Pictoris moving group
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