ABSTRACT: The study of brown dwarfs with effective temperatures less than 500 K can offer important insights into the complex physics of ultracool atmospheres, the shape of the initial mass function, and the low-mass limit of star formation. We have been using the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) to search for just such a population of brown dwarfs and have identified roughly twenty cool browns dwarfs that populate a new spectral class, dubbed 'Y'. In this talk, I will present the discovery of the Y dwarfs, summarize our current understanding of their basic physical properties, discuss how HST photometry has improved our understanding of the coolest (Teff ~ 250 K) brown dwarf known, WISE 0855-0714, and discuss our initial attempts to understand condensate clouds in Y dwarf atmospheres using joint HST+Spitzer observations.
Please join us for coffee, tea and snacks before the Colloquium in Hennings 318 at 2:45 pm
Add to Calendar
2018-11-26T15:00:002018-11-26T16:00:00Hunting for Cool Brown Dwarfs with WISEEvent Information:
ABSTRACT: The study of brown dwarfs with effective temperatures less than 500 K can offer important insights into the complex physics of ultracool atmospheres, the shape of the initial mass function, and the low-mass limit of star formation. We have been using the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) to search for just such a population of brown dwarfs and have identified roughly twenty cool browns dwarfs that populate a new spectral class, dubbed 'Y'. In this talk, I will present the discovery of the Y dwarfs, summarize our current understanding of their basic physical properties, discuss how HST photometry has improved our understanding of the coolest (Teff ~ 250 K) brown dwarf known, WISE 0855-0714, and discuss our initial attempts to understand condensate clouds in Y dwarf atmospheres using joint HST+Spitzer observations.
Please join us for coffee, tea and snacks before the Colloquium in Hennings 318 at 2:45 pmEvent Location:
Hennings 318