Bibcode
DOI
Martín, E. L.; Guenther, E.; Zapatero Osorio, M. R.; Bouy, H.; Wainscoat, R.
Bibliographical reference
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 644, Issue 1, pp. L75-L78.
Advertised on:
6
2006
Journal
Citations
59
Refereed citations
50
Description
The nearby brown dwarf LP 944-20 has been monitored for radial velocity
variability at optical and near-infrared wavelengths using the VLT/UVES
and the Keck/NIRSPEC, respectively. The UVES radial velocity data
obtained over 14 nights spanning a baseline of 841 days show significant
variability with an amplitude of 3.5 km s-1. The periodogram
analysis of the UVES data indicates a possible period between 2.5 and
3.7 hr, which is likely due to the rotation of the brown dwarf. However,
the NIRSPEC data obtained over 6 nights show an rms dispersion of only
0.36 km s-1 and do not follow the periodic trend. These
results indicate that the variability seen with UVES is likely to be due
to rotationally modulated inhomogeneous surface features. We suggest
that future planet searches around very low mass stars and brown dwarfs
using radial velocities will be better conducted in the near-infrared
than in the optical.