The Astrophysical Journal Letters (Jan 2023)
Redder than Red: Discovery of an Exceptionally Red L/T Transition Dwarf
- Adam C. Schneider,
- Adam J. Burgasser,
- Justice Bruursema,
- Jeffrey A. Munn,
- Frederick J. Vrba,
- Dan Caselden,
- Martin Kabatnik,
- Austin Rothermich,
- Arttu Sainio,
- Thomas P. Bickle,
- Scott E. Dahm,
- Aaron M. Meisner,
- J. Davy Kirkpatrick,
- Genaro Suárez,
- Jonathan Gagné,
- Jacqueline K. Faherty,
- Johanna M. Vos,
- Marc J. Kuchner,
- Stephen J. Williams,
- Daniella Bardalez Gagliuffi,
- Christian Aganze,
- Chih-Chun Hsu,
- Christopher Theissen,
- Michael C. Cushing,
- Federico Marocco,
- Sarah Casewell,
- The Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 Collaboration
Affiliations
- Adam C. Schneider
- ORCiD
- United States Naval Observatory , Flagstaff Station, 10391 West Naval Observatory Road, Flagstaff, AZ 86005, USA ; [email protected]
- Adam J. Burgasser
- ORCiD
- Center for Astrophysics and Space Science, University of California San Diego , La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
- Justice Bruursema
- ORCiD
- United States Naval Observatory , Flagstaff Station, 10391 West Naval Observatory Road, Flagstaff, AZ 86005, USA ; [email protected]
- Jeffrey A. Munn
- ORCiD
- United States Naval Observatory , Flagstaff Station, 10391 West Naval Observatory Road, Flagstaff, AZ 86005, USA ; [email protected]
- Frederick J. Vrba
- United States Naval Observatory , Flagstaff Station, 10391 West Naval Observatory Road, Flagstaff, AZ 86005, USA ; [email protected]
- Dan Caselden
- ORCiD
- Department of Astrophysics , American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY 10024, USA
- Martin Kabatnik
- ORCiD
- Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, USA
- Austin Rothermich
- ORCiD
- Department of Astrophysics , American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY 10024, USA
- Arttu Sainio
- ORCiD
- Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, USA
- Thomas P. Bickle
- ORCiD
- Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, USA; School of Physical Sciences, The Open University , Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK
- Scott E. Dahm
- ORCiD
- United States Naval Observatory , Flagstaff Station, 10391 West Naval Observatory Road, Flagstaff, AZ 86005, USA ; [email protected]
- Aaron M. Meisner
- ORCiD
- NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory , 950 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA
- J. Davy Kirkpatrick
- ORCiD
- IPAC , Mail Code 100-22, Caltech, 1200 E. California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
- Genaro Suárez
- ORCiD
- Department of Astrophysics , American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY 10024, USA
- Jonathan Gagné
- ORCiD
- Planétarium Rio Tinto Alcan , Espace pour la Vie, 4801 avenue Pierre-de Coubertin, Montréal, QC H1V 3V4, Canada; Institute for Research on Exoplanets, Université de Montréal , 2900 Boulevard Édouard-Montpetit, Montréal, QC H3T 1J4, Canada
- Jacqueline K. Faherty
- ORCiD
- Department of Astrophysics , American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY 10024, USA
- Johanna M. Vos
- ORCiD
- Department of Astrophysics , American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY 10024, USA
- Marc J. Kuchner
- ORCiD
- Exoplanets and Stellar Astrophysics Laboratory , NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- Stephen J. Williams
- United States Naval Observatory , Flagstaff Station, 10391 West Naval Observatory Road, Flagstaff, AZ 86005, USA ; [email protected]
- Daniella Bardalez Gagliuffi
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics & Astronomy , Amherst College, 25 East Drive, Amherst, MA 01003, USA
- Christian Aganze
- ORCiD
- Center for Astrophysics and Space Science, University of California San Diego , La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
- Chih-Chun Hsu
- ORCiD
- Center for Astrophysics and Space Science, University of California San Diego , La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
- Christopher Theissen
- ORCiD
- Center for Astrophysics and Space Science, University of California San Diego , La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
- Michael C. Cushing
- ORCiD
- Ritter Astrophysical Research Center, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Toledo , 2801 W. Bancroft St., Toledo, OH 43606, USA
- Federico Marocco
- ORCiD
- IPAC , Mail Code 100-22, Caltech, 1200 E. California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
- Sarah Casewell
- ORCiD
- School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester , University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK
- The Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 Collaboration
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/acb0cd
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 943,
no. 2
p. L16
Abstract
We present the discovery of CWISE J050626.96+073842.4 (CWISE J0506+0738), an L/T transition dwarf with extremely red near-infrared colors discovered through the Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 citizen science project. Photometry from UKIRT and CatWISE give a ( J − K ) _MKO color of 2.97 ± 0.03 mag and a J _MKO − W2 color of 4.93 ± 0.02 mag, making CWISE J0506+0738 the reddest known free-floating L/T dwarf in both colors. We confirm the extremely red nature of CWISE J0506+0738 using Keck/NIRES near-infrared spectroscopy and establish that it is a low-gravity, late-type L/T transition dwarf. The spectrum of CWISE J0506+0738 shows possible signatures of CH _4 absorption in its atmosphere, suggesting a colder effective temperature than other known, young, red L dwarfs. We assign a preliminary spectral type for this source of L8 γ –T0 γ . We tentatively find that CWISE J0506+0738 is variable at 3–5 μ m based on multiepoch WISE photometry. Proper motions derived from follow-up UKIRT observations combined with a radial velocity from our Keck/NIRES spectrum and a photometric distance estimate indicate a strong membership probability in the β Pic moving group. A future parallax measurement will help to establish a more definitive moving group membership for this unusual object.
Keywords
