CorMASS


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Science:

While CorMASS was designed for the rapid spectral follow-up of low-mass objects, its low resolution and wide simultaneous wavelength coverage have proved useful for a variety of science topics including studies of novae, planetary satellites, T-Tauri stars, earthshine, and Wolf-Rayet stars.

Novae CorMASS' wide spectral coverage is particularly beneficial for study of novae. Rick Rudy and Dave Lynch (Aerospace Corp) have collaborated with members of the instrument team to study novae. In particular the spectral evolution of the 2000 outburst of CI Aquilae at eight different epochs between 3 and 391 days after peak brightness was studied (Lynch et al. 2004). More recently CorMASS has been used to support Spitzer observations of novae.
		The spectrum of the recurrent nova CI Aquilae's 2000 outburst obtained on 2000 May 9, about 3 days after peak brightness (Lynch et al. 2004).

Planetary Satellites

Anne Verbiscer (Univ of Virginia) is using CorMASS to search for hemispherical asymmetries in the NIR spectra of the leading and trailing edge of Enceladus. The instrument has also been used to monitor Titan over the past two years. Greg Black (Univ of Virginia) is analyzing the data to look for time variability in the spectra due to clouds.

T-Tauri Stars

NSF Fellow Jeff Bary (Univ of Virginia) intends to use CorMASS to study the variability of accretion signatures (e.g. Br-gamma and Pa-beta) in the NIR spectra of a sample of T-Tauri stars. These observations will be complemented by Spitzer GO Cycle 2 observations of a subset of the CorMASS targets. The Spitzer observations will be looking for variability in dust features.

Earthshine

Margaret Turnbull (Univ of Arizona, now Carnegie), Wes Traub (CfA) and Nick Woolf (Univ of Arizona) used CorMASS in 2003 to observe the earthshine in the NIR. They successfully fit the observed spectrum with wet and dry atmospheric components, trees, Rayleigh scattering and clouds (Turnbull PhD thesis).

Wolf-Rayet Stars

J.D. Smith (Univ of Arizona) will be using CorMASS for spectral confirmation of candidate Wolf-Rayet stars. Smith's 2MASS Wolf-Rayet Line Detection Survey (2WORLDS) is designed to discover new populations of Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars in the Galaxy: color-selected 2MASS candidates will be culled with observations using special K-band narrow-line imaging and further confirmed with CorMASS NIR spectra.

Low Mass Objects

Highlights from CorMASS observations of low-mass objects include the spectral confirmation of the bright T-dwarf 2MASS 0559 (Burgasser et al. 2001) and confirmation of wide-binary L-dwarfs (Wilson et al. 2001). A project to follow-up and confirm 2MASS color-selected low mass objects in specific areas of the sky to derive a robust luminosity function is ongoing. Interim results were presented at the IAU 211 conference (Wilson et al. 2002).

Spectra of low-mass objects from Wilson et al 2001 including an M8 V (vb 10), an L5 V (2MASS J1507476-162738) and the bright T-dwarf confirmed with CorMASS (2MASS J0559191-140448).

For additional information please e-mail John Wilson: jcw6z@virginia.edu.