Nearby M, L, and T Dwarfs Discovered by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)

Creators: Thompson, Maggie A.; Kirkpatrick, J. Davy; Mace, Gregory N.; Cushing, Michael C.; Gelino, Christopher R.; Griffith, Roger L.; Skrutskie, Michael F.; Eisenhardt, Peter R. M.; Wright, Edward L.; Marsh, Kenneth A.; Mix, Katholeen; Beichman, Charles A.; Faherty, Jacqueline K.; Toloza, Odette; Ferrara, Jocelyn; Apodaca, Brian; McLean, Ian S.; Bloom, Joshua S.

Abstract

In our effort to complete the census of low-mass stars and brown dwarfs in the immediate solar neighborhood, we present spectra, photometry, proper motions, and distance estimates for 42 low-mass star and brown dwarf candidates discovered by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). We also present additional follow-up information on 12 candidates selected using WISE data but previously published elsewhere. The new discoveries include 15 M dwarfs, 17 L dwarfs, five T dwarfs, and five objects of other types. Among these discoveries is a newly identified "unusually red L dwarf" (WISE J223527.07 + 451140.9), four peculiar L dwarfs whose spectra are most readily explained as unresolved L + T binary systems, and a T9 dwarf (WISE J124309.61 + 844547.8). We also show that the recently discovered red L dwarf WISEP J004701.06 + 680352.1 may be a low-gravity object and hence young and potentially low-mass (< 25 M_(Jup)).

Additional Information

© 2013 Astronomical Society of the Pacific. Received 2013 April 07; accepted 2013 May 18; published 2013 July 1. We thank David Ciardi and Gerard van Belle for their help in acquiring the 2013 February 21 Keck/NIRSPEC observations, and we thank our anonymous referee for a timely and helpful report. This publication makes use of data products from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, which is a joint project of the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology, funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). This publication also makes use of data products from 2MASS, SDSS, and DSS. 2MASS is a joint project of the University of Massachusetts and the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center/California Institute of Technology, funded by NASA and the National Science Foundation. SDSS is funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Participating Institutions, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Japanese Monbukagakusho, the Max Planck Society, and the Higher Education Funding Council for England. The DSS were produced at the Space Telescope Science Institute under U.S. Government grant NAG W-2166. The images of these surveys are based on photographic data obtained using the Oschin Schmidt Telescope on Palomar Mountain and the UK Schmidt Telescope. This work is based in part on observations made with the Spitzer Space Telescope, which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with NASA. Support for this work was provided by NASA through an award issued to programs 70062 and 80109 by JPL/Caltech. This research has made use of the NASA/ IPAC Infrared Science Archive, which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with NASA. This research has also benefitted from the M, L, and T dwarf compendium housed at DwarfArchives.org; from the SIMBAD database, operated at CDS, Strasbourg, France; and from NASA's Astrophysics Data System. We acknowledge support from the Steward/Mount Bigelow staff for use of the 2MASS imager at the Bigelow 61 inch telescope. We acknowledge use of PAIRITEL, which is operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) and was made possible by a grant from the Harvard University Milton Fund, the camera loaned from the University of Virginia, and the continued support of the SAO and UC Berkeley. The PAIRITEL project is supported by NASA Grant NNG06GH50G. This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under Award No. AST-0847170, a PAARE Grant for the California-Arizona Minority Partnership for Astronomy Research and Education (CAMPARE). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

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