Bibcode
Barrado, D.; Morales-Calderón, M.; Palau, A.; Bayo, A.; de Gregorio-Monsalvo, I.; Eiroa, C.; Huélamo, N.; Bouy, H.; Morata, O.; Schmidtobreick, L.
Bibliographical reference
Astronomy and Astrophysics, Volume 508, Issue 2, 2009, pp.859-867
Advertised on:
12
2009
Journal
Citations
25
Refereed citations
23
Description
Aims. We search for brown dwarfs at the Class 0/I evolutionary stage, or
proto brown dwarfs. Methods: We present a multi wavelength study,
ranging from optical at 0.8 μm to radio wavelengths at 6 cm, of a
cool, very faint, and red multiple object, SSTB213 J041757, detected by
Spitzer toward the Barnard 213 dark cloud, in Taurus. Results:
The SED of SSTB213 J041757 displays a clear excess at long wavelengths
resembling that of a Class I object. The mid-IR source has two possible
counterparts, A and B, in the near-IR and optical images, and the 350
μm observations detect clear extended emission, presumably from an
envelope around the two sources. The position of A & B in the (Ic-J)
versus (J-[3.6]) colour-colour diagram is consistent with them being
Galactic sources and not extragalactic contaminants. A proper-motion
study confirms this result for A, while it is inconclusive for B. The
temperature and mass of the two possible central objects, according to
COND evolutionary models, range between 1550-1750 K and 3-4
MJupiter, and 950-1300 K and 1-2 MJupiter, for A
and B, respectively. The integrated SED provides bolometric temperatures
and luminosities of 280 K and 0.0034 L_⊙, assuming that the emission
at wavelengths >5 μm is associated with component A, and 150 K and
0.0033 L_⊙, assuming that the emission at wavelengths >5 μm is
associated with component B, which would imply the SSTB213 J041757
object has a luminosity well below the luminosity of other very low
luminosity objects discovered up to date. Conclusions: With these
characteristics, SSTB213 J041757 seems to be a promising, and perhaps
double, proto brown dwarf candidate.