NEOWISE-R Observation of the Coolest Known Brown Dwarf
Abstract
The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) spacecraft has been reactivated as NEOWISE-R to characterize and search for near-Earth objects. The brown dwarf WISE J085510.83-071442.5 has now been re-observed by NEOWISE-R, and we confirm the results of Luhman, who found a very low effective temperature (≈250 K), a very high proper motion (8.''1 ± 0.''1 yr-1), and a large parallax (454 ± 45 mas). The large proper motion has separated the brown dwarf from the background sources that influenced the 2010 WISE data, allowing a measurement of a very red WISE color of W1 - W2 >3.9 mag. A re-analysis of the 2010 WISE astrometry using only the W2 band, combined with the new NEOWISE-R 2014 position, gives an improved parallax of 448 ± 33 mas and a proper motion of 8.''08 ± 0.''05 yr-1. These are all consistent with values from Luhman.
- Publication:
-
The Astronomical Journal
- Pub Date:
- November 2014
- DOI:
- 10.1088/0004-6256/148/5/82
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1405.7350
- Bibcode:
- 2014AJ....148...82W
- Keywords:
-
- astrometry;
- brown dwarfs;
- infrared: stars;
- solar neighborhood;
- stars: individual: WISE J085510.83–071442.5;
- stars: low-mass;
- Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 6 pages, AJ accepted