EAPSI: A Search for Companions to the Most Massive Nearby Stars

Ward-Duong Kimberly D, Tempe AZ

Investigators

Abstract

Exoplanets - planets orbiting stars other than the Sun - often have configurations and characteristics surprisingly unlike the Solar System planets. Investigating the properties of diverse types of stars represents a key element in explaining star and planet formation, advancing the search for habitable worlds, and understanding our own cosmic origins. This research project will survey the most massive nearby stars - up to 16 times the mass of the Sun - to discover their companion stars and planets. The survey will search for young exoplanets as well as brown dwarfs, objects larger than planets yet smaller than stars. Under the supervision of Dr. Michael Ireland, a leader in high-resolution astronomical imaging at the Australian National University in Canberra, new imaging data of massive stars will be analyzed from Australian telescopes and combined with archival data. The results from this study will be compared with surveys of Sun-like and smaller stars, thereby exploring diverse kinds of multiple-star systems and environments. As the presence of additional stars in a planetary system is thought to affect planet formation, this study will provide insight into the architectures of star and planet systems. The techniques of optical interferometry and aperture masking interferometry will be used to discover new stellar and substellar companions to massive stars. The multiplicity and environments of nearby massive stars remain largely unexplored, forming an enticing target sample to search for young exoplanets and brown dwarfs. New observations of massive nearby B-type stars will be obtained with Sydney University Stellar Interferometer, and existing high-resolution aperture masking and adaptive optics imaging data will be used to study a comparable sample of more distant, young B-stars. By combining these powerful techniques, this project will provide the first comprehensive view of nearby B-stars. This NSF EAPSI award is funded in collaboration with the Australian Academy of Science.