DISCOVERY OF AN UNUSUALLY BLUE L DWARF WITHIN 10 pc OF THE SUN
- Department of Astronomy, University of Washington, P.O. Box 351580, Seattle, WA 98195 (United States)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Building 37, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States)
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 - K {sub S} 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.
- OSTI ID:
- 21301265
- Journal Information:
- Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online), Vol. 139, Issue 3; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-6256/139/3/1045; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1538-3881
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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