# Determining mass limits around HD163296 through SPHERE direct imaging data

## TL;DR

This study used SPHERE direct imaging to set upper mass limits on potential substellar companions around HD163296, constraining planet presence and challenging previous candidate detections based on NIR observations.

## Contribution

First direct imaging constraints on substellar companions around HD163296 using SPHERE, providing tighter mass limits and testing previous planet hypotheses.

## Key findings

- Upper mass limits of a few Jupiter masses around HD163296.
- Exclusion of the previously proposed candidate planet in NIR.
- Results do not confirm the presence of planets inferred from disk features.

## Abstract

HD163296 is a Herbig Ae/Be star known to host a protoplanetary disk with a ringed structure. To explain the disk features, previous works proposed the presence of planets embedded into the disk. We have observed HD163296 with the near-infrared (NIR) branch of SPHERE composed by IRDIS and IFS with the aim to put tight constraints on the presence of substellar companions around this star. Despite the low rotation of the field of view during our observation we were able to put upper mass limits of few M_Jup around this object. These limits do not allow to give any definitive conclusion about the planets proposed through the disk characteristics. On the other hand, our results seem to exclude the presence of the only candidate proposed until now using direct imaging in the NIR even if some caution has to be taken considered the different wavelength bands of the two observations.