Young brown dwarfs as giant exoplanet analogs

Abstract

Young brown dwarfs and directly-imaged exoplanets have enticingly similar photometric and spectroscopic characteristics, indicating that their cool, low gravity atmospheres should be studied in concert. Similarities between the peculiar shaped H band, near and mid-IR photometry as well as location on color magnitude diagrams provide important clues about how to extract physical properties of planets from current brown dwarf observations. In this proceeding we discuss systems newly assigned to 10-150 Myr nearby moving groups, highlight the diversity of this uniform age-calibrated brown dwarf sample, and reflect on their implication for understanding current and future planetary data. Copyright © 2013, International Astronomical Union.