2003/01/17 by Patrick Lowrance, Patrick J. Lowrance, J. Davy Kirkpatrick +3 · 28 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Brown dwarf #Carbon star #Infrared #Near-infrared spectroscopy #Optics #Parallax #Photometry (optics) #Physics #Proper motion #Sky #Stars #Stellar classification #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/373986
published in The Astrophysical Journal 584(2), L95-L98 (IOP Publishing) · 6 pages, 4 figs, Accepted by ApJ Letters
arxiv created 2003/01/17 · openalex publication_date 2003/02/20 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
The comparison of optical and Two Micron All Sky Survey near-infrared photometry for large samples of cataloged proper-motion stars has given us the potential to discover previously unrecognized nearby objects of rare type. In this Letter we present the discovery of two new carbon dwarfs, LSR 2105+2514 and LP 758-43, which were drawn from proper-motion lists and which lie in a sparsely populated part of optical/near-IR color-color space. Their optical spectra, exhibiting absorptions by C 2 and/or CN, are discussed. LSR 2105+2514 is believed to lie within 200 pc and would have M ≥ 6.7, making it lower in luminosity than any carbon dwarf with a measured trigonometric parallax. LP 758-43, which is not as red but still probably cooler than the best studied carbon dwarfs, is believed to lie within 360 pc. Using our optical/near-infrared selection technique on published lists of proper-motion stars, we hope in the near future to expand further the current sample of carbon dwarfs, which numbers only 31 objects at this writing.