A possible dividing line between massive planets and brown-dwarf companions

Understand

Brown dwarfs are intermediate objects between planets and stars.

• The lower end of the brown-dwarf mass range overlaps with the one of massive planets and therefore the distinction between planets and brown-dwarf companions may require to trace the individual formation process.
• We present results on new potential brown-dwarf companions of Sun-like stars, which were discovered using CORALIE radial-velocity measurements.
• By combining the spectroscopic orbits and Hipparcos astrometric measurements, we have determined the orbit inclinations and therefore the companion masses for many of these systems.