Spitzer spectroscopy of low-mass stars and brown dwarfs
Michael Cushing (SETI Institute/NASA Ames Research Center)
Tom Roellig (NASA Ames Research Center)
With the recent launch of the Spitzer Space Telescope, a heretofore untapped
wavelength range (5--40 µm) in the study of low-mass stars and brown
dwarfs has been opened. To take advantage of this unique opportunity, the
science team of the Infrared Spectrograph has initiated a spectroscopic survey
of a sample of M, L, and T dwarfs under the Guaranteed Time Observing program.
We will present the initial results from this survey including the first
detection of the 7.8 µm CH4 band and 10.5 µm NH3 band in the
spectra of brown dwarfs.