astronomy

WISE 1506+7027

WISE 1506+7027 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 1506+7027 rather than just read about it. In short: WISEPC J150649.97+702736.0 (designation abbreviated to WISE 1506+7027, or WISE J1506+7027) is a brown dwarf of spectral class T6, located in the constellation Ursa Minor. It is the nearest known star or brown dwarf in this constellation.

Key takeaways

WISE 1506+7027 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 1506+7027 to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of WISE 1506+7027 from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

WISEPC J150649.97+702736.0 (designation abbreviated to WISE 1506+7027, or WISE J1506+7027) is a brown dwarf of spectral class T6, located in the constellation Ursa Minor. It is the nearest known star or brown dwarf in this constellation. It is one of the Sun's nearest neighbors, at a distance of 16.85 light-years. Brown dwarfs closer to the Sun include Luhman 16, WISE 0855−0714, ε Indi Ba and ε Indi Bb.

WISE 1506+7027 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), whose mission lasted from December 2009 to February 2011. In 2011, Kirkpatrick and colleagues published a paper in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement, where they presented the discovery of 98 new brown dwarf systems found by WISE with components of spectral types M, L, T and Y, among which was WISE 1506+7027. The first trigonometric parallax of WISE 1506+7027, which was published in 2013 by Marsh et al., is 0.310″±0.042″, corresponding to a distance of 3.4+0.7−0.4 pc, or 11.1+2.3−1.3 ly. The Gaia spacecraft determined an updated parallax of 193.5 milliarcseconds leading to a distance of 16.85 light years. WISE 1506+7027 has a large proper motion of about 1,587 milliarcseconds per year. A 2024 catalog of stars and brown dwarfs within 20 parsecs lists this object with the name "Thompson's Dwarf", but this name does not appear in any other source and its origin is unclear.

Notes

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with WISE 1506+7027

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what WISE 1506+7027 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 1506+7027 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 1506+7027 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 1506+7027

In research: WISE 1506+7027 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 1506+7027 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 1506+7027 is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Astronomical objects discovered in 2011, Local Bubble, T-type brown dwarfs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for WISE 1506+7027 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 1506+7027 in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what WISE 1506+7027 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 1506+7027 out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is WISE 1506+7027 in simple terms?

Why does WISE 1506+7027 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 1506+7027?

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 1506+7027.