astronomy

WISE 0359−5401

WISE 0359−5401 is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand WISE 0359−5401 rather than just read about it. In short: WISE J035934.06−540154.6 (designation abbreviated to WISE 0359−5401) is a brown dwarf, sub-brown dwarf or rogue planet of spectral class Y0, located in constellation Reticulum. It is estimated to be approximately 44 light-years from Earth.

Key takeaways

WISE 0359−5401 belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect WISE 0359−5401 to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of WISE 0359−5401 from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

WISE J035934.06−540154.6 (designation abbreviated to WISE 0359−5401) is a brown dwarf, sub-brown dwarf or rogue planet of spectral class Y0, located in constellation Reticulum. It is estimated to be approximately 44 light-years from Earth. A study with Spitzer found this Y-dwarf to be variable. In this sample of 14 Y-dwarfs it had the shortest period of 2.44 hours and showed strong variability in all 4 light curves. The researchers claim it is the perfect candidate for variability study with JWST.

Discovery WISE 0359−5401 was discovered in 2012 by J. Davy Kirkpatrick and colleagues from data collected by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) in the infrared at a wavelength of 4.6 μm (1.8 × 10−4 in), whose mission lasted from December 2009 to February 2011. In 2012 Kirkpatrick et al. published a paper in The Astrophysical Journal, where they presented discovery of seven new found by WISE brown dwarfs of spectral type Y, among which also was WISE 0359−5401.

James Webb Space Telescope observation In June 2023 WISE 0359−5401 became the first Y-dwarf with a spectral energy distribution measured by JWST. This includes a spectrum taken by NIRSpec and MIRI LRS at 1 to 12 μm, as well as MIRI photometry at 15, 18 and 21 μm. The molecules water (H2O), methane (CH4), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2) and ammonia (NH3) were detected in WISE 0359−5401. Methane is the main reservoir of carbon, but there is enough carbon for detectable carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. The study also measured a temperature of 467 K (194 °C, 381 °F). The mass and age remained uncertain. There was a disagreement between model fits and semi-empirical measurements. The semi-empirical measurements suggested a mass of about 9 to 31 MJup according to an age estimate of 1 to 10 Gyrs and the measured bolometric luminosity. The model fit on the other hand suggested a mass of 1 MJup and an age of 20 Myrs, due to a low surface gravity. The low age and mass from the model fit was not in agreement with simulations, which predict nearby Y-dwarfs to be old with a median age of 5 Gyrs. Newer models resolved this discrepancy. These models included disequilibrium chemistry, which was included in older models, as well as a pressure-temperature (P-T) profile that is not in the standard adiabatic form. Usually brown dwarfs have an increasing pressure and temperature with increasing depth. Brown dwarfs however rotate rapidly, which disrupts the convection and influences the heat transfer. This leads to colder lower layers of the atmosphere. These newer ATMO2020++ models fit better to the spectrum of WISE 0359−5401 and produce more realistic surface gravity, age, mass and metallicity. WISE 0359−5401 according to the newer models has a solar metallicity, a surface gravity of log g = 4.5, an age of about 2.5 billion years and a mass of about 14 MJup. Both old and new models produce a better fit with an atmosphere that does not contain the molecule phosphine (PH3), which was previously suspected to exist in cold brown dwarfs. Phosphine exists in the atmosphere of the Solar System giant planets. It is suspected that a different composition and gravity could mean that phosphorus exists in a different form in the atmosphere. Another work used atmospheric retrieval to analyse the JWST spectrum and obtained mixing ratios for the major absorbers H2O, CH4, CO, CO2, NH3, PH3 and hydrogen sulfide (H2S). The mixing ratio of phosphine is low enough to be consistent with a lack of phosphine. Hydrogen sulfide is not detected by any spectral features, but it is known to improve atmospheric retrieval of brown dwarfs. This work found signs of vigorous vertical mixing and was able to constrain the carbon to oxygen ratio to (C/O)atm = 0.548 ±0.002.

Distance The trigonometric parallax of WISE 0359−5401 is 0.145±0.039 arcsec, corresponding to a direct inversion distance of 6.9+2.5−1.5 pc, or 22.5+8.3−4.8 ly. A more accurate measurement in 2023 found a parallax of 73.6±2.0 mas, corresponding to a distance of 13.6±0.4 pc, or 44±1 ly.

See also List of star systems within 40–45 light-years List of Y-dwarfs The other six discoveries of brown dwarfs, published in Kirkpatrick et al. (2012):

WISE 0146+4234 (Y0) WISE 0350−5658 (Y1) WISE 0535−7500 (≥Y1) WISE 0713−2917 (Y0) WISE 0734−7157 (Y0) WISE 2220−3628 (Y0)

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with WISE 0359−5401

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what WISE 0359−5401 claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to WISE 0359−5401 before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about WISE 0359−5401 ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of WISE 0359−5401

In research: WISE 0359−5401 appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses WISE 0359−5401 in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: WISE 0359−5401 is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Astronomical objects discovered in 2012, Brown dwarfs, Reticulum, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for WISE 0359−5401 outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study WISE 0359−5401 in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what WISE 0359−5401 means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain WISE 0359−5401 out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is WISE 0359−5401 in simple terms?

Why does WISE 0359−5401 matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study WISE 0359−5401?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on WISE 0359−5401.