NPARSEC : NTT Parallaxes of Southern Extremely Cool objects. Goals, targets, procedures and first results

Smart, R.L.; Tinney, C.G.; Bucciarelli, B.; Marocco, F.; Abbas, U.; Andrei, A.; Bernardi, G.; Burningham, B.; Cardoso, C.; Costa, E.; Crosta, M.T.; Dapra, M.; Day-Jones, A.; Goldman, B.; Jones, H.R.A.; Lattanzi, M.G.; Leggett, S.K.; Lucas, P.W.; Mendez, R.; Penna, J.L.; Pinfield, D.J.; Smith, Leigh; Sozzetti, A.; Vecchiato, A.

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Author

Smart, R.L.

Tinney, C.G.

Bucciarelli, B.

Marocco, F.

Abbas, U.

Andrei, A.

Bernardi, G.

Burningham, B.

Cardoso, C.

Costa, E.

Crosta, M.T.

Dapra, M.

Day-Jones, A.

Goldman, B.

Jones, H.R.A.

Lattanzi, M.G.

Leggett, S.K.

Lucas, P.W.

Mendez, R.

Penna, J.L.

Pinfield, D.J.

Smith, Leigh

Sozzetti, A.

Vecchiato, A.

Abstract

The discovery and subsequent detailed study of T dwarfs have provided many surprises and pushed the physics and modelling of cool atmospheres in unpredicted directions. Distance is a critical parameter for studies of these objects to determine intrinsic luminosities, test binarity and measure their motion in the Galaxy. We describe a new observational programme to determine distances across the full range of T-dwarf subtypes using the New Technology Telescope (NTT)/SOFI telescope/instrument combination. We present preliminary results for ten objects, five of which represent new distances.