A PROPER MOTION SURVEY USING the FIRST SKY PASS of NEOWISE-REACTIVATION DATA

Adam C. Schneider, Jennifer Greco, Michael C. Cushing, J. Davy Kirkpatrick, Amy Mainzer, Christopher R. Gelino, Sergio B. Fajardo-Acosta, James Bauer

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

50 Scopus citations

Abstract

The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) was reactivated in 2013 December (NEOWISE) to search for potentially hazardous near-Earth objects. We have conducted a survey using the first sky pass of NEOWISE data and the AllWISE catalog to identify nearby stars and brown dwarfs with large proper motions (μtotal ≳ 250 mas yr-1). A total of 20,548 high proper motion objects were identified, 1006 of which are new discoveries. This survey has uncovered a significantly larger sample of fainter objects (W2 ≳ 13 mag) than the previous WISE motion surveys of Luhman and Kirkpatrick et al. Many of these objects are predicted to be new L and T dwarfs based on near- and mid-infrared colors. Using estimated spectral types along with distance estimates, we have identified several objects that likely belong to the nearby solar neighborhood (d < 25 pc). We have followed up 19 of these new discoveries with near-infrared or optical spectroscopy, focusing on potentially nearby objects, objects with the latest predicted spectral types, and potential late-type subdwarfs. This subset includes six M dwarfs, five of which are likely subdwarfs, as well as eight L dwarfs and five T dwarfs, many of which have blue near-infrared colors. As an additional supplement, we provide 2MASS and AllWISE positions and photometry for every object found in our search, as well as 2MASS/AllWISE calculated proper motions.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number112
JournalAstrophysical Journal
Volume817
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 1 2016
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • brown dwarfs
  • stars: low-mass

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'A PROPER MOTION SURVEY USING the FIRST SKY PASS of NEOWISE-REACTIVATION DATA'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this