The Brown Dwarf Kinematics Project (Jacqueline Faherty, Universidad de Chile)

Brown dwarfs are a recent addition to the plethora of objects studied in

Astronomy. With theoretical masses between 13 and 75 MJupiter, they

lack sustained stable Hydrogen burning so they never join the stellar

main sequence.  They have physical properties similar to both planets

and low--mass stars so studies of their population inform on both.

The distances and kinematics of brown dwarfs provide key statistical

constraints on their ages, moving group membership, intrinsic

luminosity, evolutionary trends, and multiplicity. Yet until my work,

fundamental measurements of distance and proper motion were made for

only a small fraction of the known population.  To address this

deficiency, I initiated the Brown Dwarf Kinematics (BDKP). In this talk I

will discuss three major results of the first few years of the BDKP: (1)

How velocities of brown dwarfs provide critical age information for the

population and (2) How intrinsic luminosities are helping to disentangle

the observable changes related to variations in the age, atmosphere,

and metallicity of low-mass stars, brown dwarfs, and (possibly) planets.

(3) The discovery and characterization of a young brown dwarf whose

observable features are strikingly similar to the giant exoplanets 2M1207b

and HR8799b.