DISCOVERY OF AN UNUSUALLY BLUE L DWARF WITHIN 10 pc OF THE SUN

Author(s)
Schmidt, Sarah J.; Burgasser, Adam J.; Bochanski, John J.; Hawley, Suzanne L.; West, A. A.
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Abstract
We report the discovery of an unusually blue L5 dwarf within 10 pc of the Sun from a search of Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) spectra. A spectrophotometric distance estimate of 8.0±1.6 pc places SDSS J141624.08+134826.7 among the six closest known L dwarfs. SDSS 1416+13 was overlooked in infrared color-based searches because of its unusually blue J − KS color, which also identifies it as the nearest member of the blue L dwarf subclass. We present additional infrared and optical spectroscopy from the IRTF/SpeX and Magellan/MagE spectrographs and determine UVW motions that indicate thin disk kinematics. The inclusion of SDSS 1416+13 in the 20 pc sample of L dwarfs increases the number of L5 dwarfs by 20% suggesting that the L dwarf luminosity function may be far from complete.
Date issued
2010-02
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/55991
Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics; MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research
Journal
Astronomical Journal
Publisher
American Astronomical Society
Citation
Schmidt, Sarah J. et al. "Discovery of an unusually blue L dwarf within 10 pc of the sun." 2010 The Astronomical Journal 139:3, p.1045–1050. ©2010 The American Astronomical Society.
Version: Author's final manuscript
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