Published June 1, 2020 | Version v1
Journal article

WISEA J083011.95+283716.0: A Missing Link Planetary-mass Object

  • 1. American Museum of Natural History, 200 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024 (United States)
  • 2. School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, 781 Terrace Mall, Tempe, AZ 85287 (United States)
  • 3. NSF's National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory, 950 N Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719 (United States)
  • 4. Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 (United States)
  • 5. IPAC, Mail Code 100-22, Caltech, 1200 E. California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)
  • 6. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Exoplanets and Stellar Astrophysics Laboratory, Code 667, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States)
  • 7. Institut de Recherche sur les Exoplanètes, Université de Montréal, Pavillon Roger-Gaudry, P.O. Box 6128 Centre-Ville STN, Montreal QC H3C 3J7 (Canada)
  • 8. National Optical Astronomy Observatory, 950 N Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719 (United States)
  • 9. Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, Mail Code 0424, La Jolla, CA 92093 (United States)
  • 10. Physics and Astronomy Department, Bucknell University, 701 Moore Avenue, Lewisburg, PA 17837 (United States)
  • 11. Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States)
  • 12. Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Oklahoma, 440 West Brooks Street, Norman, OK 73019 (United States)
  • 13. Physics Department, University Of Central Florida, 4000 Central Florida Boulevard, Building 12, 310, Orlando, FL 32816 (United States)

Description

We present the discovery of WISEA J083011.95+283716.0, the first Y-dwarf candidate identified through the "Backyard Worlds: Planet 9" citizen science project. We identified this object as a red, fast-moving source with a faint W2 detection in multiepoch AllWISE and unWISE images. We have characterized this object with Spitzer  and Hubble Space Telescope's (HST) follow-up imaging. With mid-infrared detections in Spitzer's ch1 and ch2 bands and flux upper limits in HST F105W and F125W filters, we find that this object is both very faint and has extremely red colors (ch1 − ch2 = 3.25 ± 0.23 mag, F125Wch2 ≥ 9.36 mag), consistent with a T eff ∼ 300 K source, as estimated from the known Y-dwarf population. A preliminary parallax provides a distance of 11.1 1.5 + 2.0 pc, leading to a slightly warmer temperature of ∼350 K. The extreme faintness and red HST  and Spitzer  colors of this object suggest that it may be a link between the broader Y-dwarf population and the coldest known brown dwarf WISE J0855−0714, and may highlight our limited knowledge of the true spread of Y-dwarf colors. We also present four additional "Backyard Worlds: Planet 9" late-T brown dwarf discoveries within 30 pc.

Availability note (English)

Available from http://dx.doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab8d25

Additional details

Identifiers

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Astrophysical Journal
Journal Volume
895
Journal Issue
2
Journal Page Range
[11 p.]
ISSN
0004-637X
CODEN
ASJOAB

INIS

Country of Publication
United Kingdom
Country of Input or Organization
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
INIS RN
52065182
Subject category
S79: ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY;
Descriptors DEI
DISTANCE; DWARF STARS; FILTERS; INTERMEDIATE INFRARED RADIATION; MASS; SPACE VEHICLES; TELESCOPES
Descriptors DEC
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION; INFRARED RADIATION; RADIATIONS; STARS; VEHICLES

Optional Information