S21B0035

We ask to obtain a final epoch of SCExAO/CHARIS imaging of AB Aur to confirm a wide-separation protoplanet embedded in AB Aur’s protoplanetary disk. These observations were approved for S20B (January 2021) but weathered out; Nature has pre-approved a submission should we complete our program. SCExAO/HiCIAO, CHARIS data and now HST/STIS and (archival) NICMOS recover a bright emission peak at 0.6" in 12 separate datasets between 2007 and 2020 consistent with the location for a protoplanet predicted from ALMA data. Preliminary analysis suggests a complex SED consistent with local heating of disk material from an unseen planet. Gaia astrometry hints at a second companion interior to 0.2" (∼ 30 au). New data 1) will confirm counterclockwise orbital motion and the SED of the 0.6"-separation candidate and 2) could identify a second candidate hinted at by astrometry. If the outer companion is confirmed, this program rewrites the field’s understanding of planet formation, demonstrating the existence of multiple mechanisms for forming jovian planets: core accretion AND disk instability. If both are real, it could indicate that both core accretion and disk instability operate in the same system.

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