A proposed search on the solar neighborhood for substellar objects

The Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) program will produce an extremely sensitive all-sky survey over the wavelength region 8 to 120 microns when the mission is flown in 1982. These data will provide a novel opportunity to detect planetary-sized objects having masses smaller than 0.08 solar masses in or near the solar system. The improved detection limit of the IRAS will greatly increase the volume of space searched for such objects, as compared with previous optical and infrared studies.