astronomy

WISE 1405+5534

WISE 1405+5534 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 1405+5534 rather than just read about it. In short: WISEPC J140518.40+553421.4 (abbreviated WISE 1405+5534) is a brown dwarf of spectral class Y0 (pec?), located in constellation Ursa Major at approximately 20.6 light-years from Earth. It is one of the Sun's nearest neighbors.

Key takeaways

WISE 1405+5534 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 1405+5534 to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of WISE 1405+5534 from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

WISEPC J140518.40+553421.4 (abbreviated WISE 1405+5534) is a brown dwarf of spectral class Y0 (pec?), located in constellation Ursa Major at approximately 20.6 light-years from Earth. It is one of the Sun's nearest neighbors.

Discovery WISE 1405+5534 was discovered in 2011 from data collected by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) in the infrared at a wavelength of 40 cm (16 in). WISE 1405+5534 has two discovery papers: Kirkpatrick et al. (2011) and Cushing et al. (2011), however, basically with the same authors and published nearly simultaneously.

Kirkpatrick et al. presented discovery of 98 new found by WISE brown dwarf systems with components of spectral types M, L, T and Y, among which also was WISE 1405+5534. Cushing et al. presented discovery of seven brown dwarfs—one of T9.5 type, and six of Y-type—first members of the Y spectral class, ever discovered and spectroscopically confirmed, including "archetypal member" of the Y spectral class WISE 1828+2650, and WISE 1405+5534. These seven objects are also the faintest seven of 98 brown dwarfs, presented in Kirkpatrick et al. (2011).

Distance An older distance estimate of WISE 1405+5534 is a trigonometric parallax, measured using Spitzer Space Telescope and published in 2013 by Trent Dupuy and Adam Kraus: 0.129 ± 0.019 arcsec, corresponding to a distance 7.8+1.3−1.0 pc, or 25.3+4.4−3.2 ly. Later the parallax was refined to 158.2±2.6 mas, showing that it is closer at about 6.3 pc, or 20.6 light years. WISE 1405+5534 distance estimates

Non-trigonometric distance estimates are marked in italic. The most precise estimate is marked in bold.

Space motion WISE 1405+5534 has a large proper motion of about 2281 milliarcseconds per year. WISE 1405+5534 proper motion estimates

The most accurate estimates are marked in bold.

Physical properties The object's temperature estimate is 405 ± 3 K (131.85 ± 3.00 °C; 269.33 ± 5.40 °F). Its spectrum is similar with spectrum of another Y-dwarf WISE 1738+2732. However, WISE 1405+5534's spectrum has a red shift of H-band flux peak, suggesting that WISE 1405+5534 may be peculiar, therefore it is classified as Y0 (pec?). One work has shown that models that include optically thin sulfides, KCl and Cr clouds fit the observed photometry of WISE 1405+5534 better. This is however a tentative result. At this low temperature of WISE 1405+5534 water should condense and form clouds. Another team observed WISE 1405+5534 with the Very Large Array to search for radio emission coming from an aurora, but was not able to detect any.

Variability WISE 1405+5534 was the first Y-dwarf with a detected variability. The discovery was made with the Spitzer Space Telescope. The Y-dwarf was observed in two epochs. The first epoch was a 24-hour-long observation and the second epoch was 149 days later and was also 24 hours long. The first epoch is only variable at 4.5 μm and the second epoch is variable in both 3.6 and 4.5 μm. This means that the variability changes on the timescale of months. The light curve in the second epoch had a semi-amplitude of 3.5% and a rotation period of 8.5 hours. A single bright spot reproduced the observations well. Other models that included clouds and hot spots were not able to reproduce the variability.

See also List of Y-dwarfs List of star systems within 20–25 light-years WISE 0148-7202 (T9.5) WISE 0410+1502 (Y0) WISE 1541-2250 (Y0.5) WISE 1738+2732 (Y0) WISE 1828+2650 (≥Y2) WISE 2056+1459 (Y0)

Notes

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with WISE 1405+5534

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what WISE 1405+5534 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 1405+5534 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 1405+5534 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 1405+5534

In research: WISE 1405+5534 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 1405+5534 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 1405+5534 is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Astronomical objects discovered in 2011, Brown dwarfs, Ursa Major, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for WISE 1405+5534 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 1405+5534 in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what WISE 1405+5534 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 1405+5534 out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is WISE 1405+5534 in simple terms?

Why does WISE 1405+5534 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 1405+5534?

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 1405+5534.