0 Assigned ID: 778 ----- Attempting Submission 1 (Fri Apr 07 19:25:28 GMT 2017) ----- HST Phase I Proposal 778 (binary-AR-APT.pdf.apt) successfully submitted. Receipt: # 778-1 ----- Attempting Submission 2 (Fri Apr 07 20:42:00 GMT 2017) ----- Fewer wide-separation binaries are found in dense stellar clusters than in looser stellar associations. It is therefore unclear whether feedback in clusters prevents the formation of multiple systems or dynamical interactions destroy them. Measuring the prevalence of close, bound binary systems provide a key test to distinguish between these possibilities. Systems with separations of ~10-50 AU will survive interactions in the cluster environment, and therefore are more representative of the natal population of multiple systems. By fitting a double-star PSF, we will identify visual binaries in the Orion Nebula with separations as small as 0.03". At the distance of Orion, this corresponds to a physical separation of ~12 AU, effectively closing the observational gap in the binary separation distribution left between known visual and spectroscopic binaries (>65 AU or <10 AU, respectively). To conduct this search, we will build a a code suite to determine the best-fit parameters of marginally resolved binaries, which we anticipate to being led by a graduate student as part of their PhD thesis. Stellar Physics 0 Regular false false false SUPPORTED