Astrochemistry

Water-Bearing Objects in the Core of the Rho Ophiuchi Cloud Complex

By Keith Cowing

Status Report

astro-ph.SR

January 3, 2025

Filed under astro-ph.SR, astrochemistry, biosignature, brown dwarf, circumstellar dust, exoplanet, Gaia mission, imaging, Interstellar, Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex, Spectroscopy, Water

Water-Bearing Objects in the Core of the Rho Ophiuchi Cloud Complex — The spatial coverage of our study of L 1688A, with the underlying extinction map being computed using 2MASS catalog (Cutri et al. 2003) adopting the NICE technique from Lada et al. (1994). The color bar shows the extinction range. The red square encloses the area of the W band observations covering a field of 20′ × 20′ corresponding to a linear scale of 0.8 pc. — astro-ph.SR

We present a study of very low-mass stars and brown dwarfs in the rich star-forming core of the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex. The selection of the sample relies on detecting the inherent water absorption characteristic in young substellar objects.

Of the 22 water-bearing candidates selected, 15 have a spectral type of M6 or later. Brown dwarf candidates too faint for membership determination by Gaia have their proper motions derived by deep-infrared images spanning six years.

Astrometric analysis confirms 21/22 sources as members, one identified as a contaminant. Infrared colors and the spectral energy distribution of each water-bearing candidate are used to diagnose the mass, age, and possible existence of circumstellar dust. 15 sources exhibit evidence of disks in their spectral energy distributions, as late as in M8-type objects.

Spectroscopy for bright candidates has confirmed one as an M8 member and verified two sources (with disks) exhibiting signatures of magnetospheric accretion.

(a) The water Q index versus H mag for all WIRCam sources (in black). The Q candidates are marked in red. The pink shaded region highlights the region Q < 0.6 mag and H mag between 12 and 16. (b) The zoomed-in region around our candidates where spectral types in the literature if available are labeled. — astro-ph.SR

A Novel Survey for Young Substellar Objects with the W-band Filter. VII. Water-Bearing Objects in the Core of the Rho Ophiuchi Cloud Complex

Tanvi Sharma, Wen-Ping Chen, Beth Biller, Loic Albert, Belinda Damian, Jessy Jose, Bhavana Lalchand, Michael C. Liu, Yumiko Oasa

Comments: 25 pages, 35 figures, 4 tables. Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal
Subjects: Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR); Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA)
Cite as: arXiv:2501.00433 [astro-ph.SR] (or arXiv:2501.00433v1 [astro-ph.SR] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2501.00433
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Submission history
From: Tanvi Sharma
[v1] Tue, 31 Dec 2024 13:22:12 UTC (3,070 KB)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.00433
Astrobiology,

Keith Cowing

Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Station Payload manager/space biologist, Away Teams, Journalist, Lapsed climber, Synaesthete, Na’Vi-Jedi-Freman-Buddhist-mix, ASL, Devon Island and Everest Base Camp veteran, (he/him) 🖖🏻

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