JWST Observations of the Enigmatic Y-Dwarf WISE 1828+2650. I. Limits to a Binary Companion
Matthew De Furio, Ben W. P. Lew, Charles Beichman, Thomas L. Roellig, G. Bryden, David R. Ciardi, Michael R. Meyer, Marcia Rieke, Alexandra Z. Greenbaum, Jarron Leisenring, Jorge Llop-Sayson, Marie Ygouf, Loïc Albert, Martha L. Boyer, Daniel J. Eisenstein, K. W. Hodapp, Scott Horner, Doug Johnstone, Doug Kelly, K. A. Misselt, G. H. Rieke, John Stansberry, Erick T. Young
Abstract
Abstract The Y-dwarf WISE 1828+2650 is one of the coldest known brown dwarfs with an effective temperature of ∼300 K. Located at a distance of just 10 pc, previous model-based estimates suggest WISE1828+2650 has a mass of ∼5–10 M J , making it a valuable laboratory for understanding the formation, evolution, and physical characteristics of gas giant planets. However, previous photometry and spectroscopy have presented a puzzle, with the near impossibility of simultaneously fitting both the short- (0.9–2.0 μ m) and long-wavelength (3–5 μ m) data. A potential solution to this problem has been the suggestion that WISE 1828+2650 is a binary system whose composite spectrum might provide a better match to the data. Alternatively, new models being developed to fit JWST/NIRSpec, and MIRI spectroscopy might provide new insights. This article describes JWST/NIRCam observations of WISE 1828+2650 in six filters to address the binarity question and to provide new photometry to be used in model fitting. We also report adaptive optics imaging with the Keck I0 m telescope. We find no evidence for multiplicity for a companion beyond 0.5 au with either JWST or Keck. Companion articles will present low- and high-resolution spectra of WISE 1828 obtained with both NIRSpec and MIRI.