S22B0027
S22B0027
AB Aur now hosts only the second system with a bona fide directly-imaged protoplanet and provides the first evidence for planet formation at wide separations due to disk instability (Currie et al. 2022, Nature Astronomy). However, its emission properties and orbit remain poorly constrained. This proposal seeks follow up observations of AB Aurigae with SCExAO with the CHARIS and VAMPIRES instruments. These data will accomplish three key goals. First, new CHARIS detections of AB Aur b will increase the protoplanet’s orbital coverage with SCExAO by 50%, allowing a better constraint of its orbital properties. Second, VAMPIRES data will better constrain AB Aur b’s emission properties by obtaining a higher signal-to-noise detection at Hα and a new detection at 750 nm. Finally, non-coronagraphic CHARIS data will search for additional planets at small, solar system-like separations of 8–20 au. If found, this additional planet may provide evidence that two different mechanisms – disk instability at wide separations and core accretion at small separations – can form planets in the same system.
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