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Spitzer White Dwarf Planet Limits, F. Mullally, Ted Von Hippel, D. E. Winget
Spitzer White Dwarf Planet Limits, F. Mullally, Ted Von Hippel, D. E. Winget
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We present preliminary limits on the presence of planets around white dwarf stars using the IRAC photometer on the Spitzer space telescope. Planets emit strongly in the mid-infrared which allows their presence to be detected as an excess at these wavelengths. We place limits of 5 MJ for 8 stars assuming ages of 1 Gyr, and 10 MJ for 23 stars.We describe our survey, present our results and comment on approaches to improve our methodology.