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Paper: Operation: Dwarf Hunt - A Methane Imaging Survey of Corona Australis
Volume: 448, 16th Cambridge Workshop on Cool Stars, Stellar Systems, and the Sun
Page: 699
Authors: Parker, S. R.; Tinney, C. G.
Abstract: T-dwarfs are amongst the coolest compact objects directly observable outside our Solar System, and a critical means of probing star formation processes at very-low masses. Corona Australis is a young (3–15Myr), nearby (130pc) star forming region, and an ideal location in which to search for very cold T-type brown dwarfs. Methane imaging provides several advantages in searching for such objects — most critically that T-dwarfs are the only stellar objects expected to show blue colours in specially designed sets of methane filters. Surveys of this nature are important as they provide a direct means to answer fundamental questions — “Is there a minimum mass for star formation?” and “Is there a universal cluster mass function?”.
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