| Issue |
A&A
Volume 482, Number 3, May II 2008
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Page(s) | 961 - 971 | |
| Section | Stellar atmospheres | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20079317 | |
| Published online | 11 March 2008 | |
CFBDS J005910.90-011401.3: reaching the T-Y brown dwarf transition? *
1
Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Grenoble, Observatoire de Grenoble, Université Joseph Fourier, CNRS, UMR 5571 Grenoble, France e-mail: Philippe.Delorme@obs.ujf-grenoble.fr
2
Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Corporation, 65-1238 Mamaloha Highway, Kamuela, HI 96743, USA
3
Gemini Observatory, Southern Operations Center, Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., Casilla 603, La Serena, Chile
4
Institute for Astronomy, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822-1839, USA
5
Observatoire de Besançon, Institut UTINAM, University of Franche-Comté, CNRS-UMR 6213, BP 1615, 25010 Besançon Cedex, France
6
Centre de Recherche Astrophysique de Lyon, UMR 5574 CNRS, Université de Lyon, École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, 46 allée d'Italie, 69364 Lyon Cedex 07, France
7
Institut für Astrophysik, Georg-August-Universität, Friedrich-Hund-Platz 1, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
8
Physics Department, University of Ottawa, 150 Louis Pasteur, MacDonald Hall, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5, Canada
Received:
21
December
2007
Accepted:
5
March
2008
Aims. We report the discovery of CFBDS J005910.90-011401.3 (hereafter CFBDS0059), the coolest brown dwarf identified to date.
Methods. We found CFBDS0059 using i' and z' images from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT), and present optical and near-infrared photometry, Keck laser-guide-star adaptive optics imaging, and a complete near-infrared spectrum, from 1.0 to 2.2 μm.
Results. A side-to-side comparison of the near-infrared spectra of
CFBDS0059 and ULAS J003402.77-005206.7 (hereafter ULAS0034), previously
the coolest known brown dwarf, indicates that CFBDS0059 is
~50 ± 15 K cooler.
We estimate a temperature of 
620 K and gravity of log g ~ 4.75. Evolutionary models translate these parameters into an
age of 1–5 Gyr and a mass of 15-30 MJup. We
estimate a photometric distance of ~13 pc, which puts CFBDS0059
within easy reach of accurate parallax measurements. Its large proper motion
suggests membership in the older population of the thin disk.
The spectra of both CFBDS0059 and ULAS J0034 show probable
absorption by a wide ammonia band on the blue side of the
H-band flux peak. If, as we expect, that
feature deepens further for still lower effective temperatures, its
appearance will become a natural breakpoint for the transition between
the T spectral class and the new Y spectral type. Together, CFBDS0059 and
ULAS J0034 would then be the first Y0 dwarfs.
Key words: techniques: spectroscopic / surveys / stars: atmospheres / infrared: stars / stars: low-mass, brown dwarfs
Based in part on observations obtained with MegaPrime/MegaCam, a joint project of CFHT and CEA/DAPNIA, at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) which is operated by the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada, the Institut National des Sciences de l'Univers of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) of France, and the University of Hawaii. This work is based in part on data products produced at TERAPIX and the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre as part of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey, a collaborative project of NRC and CNRS. Also based on observations obtained at the Gemini Observatory, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under a cooperative agreement with the NSF on behalf of the Gemini partnership: the National Science Foundation (United States), the Science and Technology Facilities Council (United Kingdom), the National Research Council (Canada), CONICYT (Chile), the Australian Research Council (Australia), CNPq (Brazil) and SECYT (Argentina) under programs GN-2007A-Q-201 and GN-2007B-Q-3. Also based on observations made with ESO Telescopes at the La Silla Observatory under programmes 078.C-0629 and 078.A-0651. Some of the data presented herein were obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation.
© ESO, 2008
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