WISEPA J041022.71+150248.5 explained

WISEPA J041022.71+150248.5 (abbreviated WISE 0410+1502) is a sub-brown dwarf^[1] of spectral class Y0, located in constellation Taurus. Being approximately 21.6 light-years from Earth, it is one of the Sun's nearest neighbors, especially assuming outdated parallax by Marsh et al., corresponding to even closer distance of approximately 14 light-years.

History of observations

Discovery

WISE 0410+1502 was discovered in 2011 from data, collected by Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) Earth-orbiting satellite — NASA infrared-wavelength 40 cm (16 in) space telescope, which mission lasted from December 2009 to February 2011. WISE 0410+1502 has two discovery papers: Kirkpatrick et al. (2011) and Cushing et al. (2011), however, basically with the same authors and published nearly simultaneously.

• Kirkpatrick et al. presented discovery of 98 new found by WISE brown dwarf systems with components of spectral types M, L, T and Y, among which also was WISE 0410+1502.^[2]
• Cushing et al. presented discovery of seven brown dwarfs — one of T9.5 type, and six of Y-type — first members of the Y spectral class, ever discovered and spectroscopically confirmed, including "archetypal member" of the Y spectral class WISE 1828+2650, and WISE 0410+1502. These seven objects are also the faintest seven of 98 brown dwarfs, presented in Kirkpatrick et al. (2011).

Distance

Currently the most accurate distance estimate of WISE 0410+1502 is a trigonometric parallax, published in 2021 by Kirkpatrick et al.:, corresponding to a distance, or .

Space motion

WISE 0410+1502 has a large proper motion of milliarcseconds per year. The brown dwarf WISE 0410+1502 lies in local void 6.5 parsecs across, where relatively few stars and brown dwarfs are located.

Physical properties

The object's temperature estimate is . Cushing et al. obtained a low-resolution Magellan/FIRE spectrum and later they obtained a higher quality spectrum with Hubble WFC3, confirming the Y0 spectral type. The fitting of the spectrum with cloudy models produces realistic values and Leggett et al. finds a mass of about 10-15 . The atmosphere is likely in a chemical disequilibrium and a cloud-free disequilibrium model does fit well with the Y- and H-band, but does not fit well with the J-band.

See also

Lists:

• List of star systems within 20–25 light years
• List of Y-dwarfs

The other six discoveries of brown dwarfs, published in Cushing et al. (2011):

• WISE 0148-7202 (T9.5)
• WISE 1405+5534 (Y0 (pec?))
• WISE 1541-2250 (Y0.5)
• WISE 1738+2732 (Y0)
• WISE 1828+2650 (>Y2)
• WISE 2056+1459 (Y0)

Notes and References

1. Since its mass estimate is below the lower brown dwarf mass limit, it may be actually a sub-brown dwarf or a rogue planet.
2. These 98 brown dwarf systems are only among first, not all brown dwarf systems, discovered from data, collected by WISE: six discoveries were published earlier (however, also listed in Kirkpatrick et al. (2011)) in Mainzer et al. (2011) and Burgasser et al. (2011), and the other discoveries were published later.