2MASS J02431371-2453298 (abbreviated to 2MASS 0243-2453) is a brown dwarf of spectral class T6, located in the constellation Fornax about 34.84 light-years from Earth.
Contents
Discovery
2MASS 0243-2453 was discovered in 2002 by Adam J. Burgasser et al. from Two Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS), conducted from 1997 to 2001. Follow-up observations were made in 1998—2001 using the Near-Infrared Camera, mounted on the Palomar 60 inch (1.5 m) Telescope; CTIO Infrared Imager (CIRIM) and Ohio State Infrared Imager/Spectrometer (OSIRIS), mounted on the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) 1.5 m Telescope; and some additional observations were made using the Near Infrared Camera (NIRC), mounted on the Keck I 10 m telescope, and nearinfrared camera D78, mounted on the Palomar 5 m Hale Telescope. In 2002 Burgasser et al. published a paper, where they defined new spectral subtypes T1—T8, and presented discovery of 11 new T-type brown dwarfs, among which also was 2MASS 0243-2453. This 11 objects were among the earliest T-type brown dwarfs ever discovered: before this, the total number of known T-type objects was 13, and this discoveries increased it up to 24 (apart from additional T-type dwarfs, identified by Geballe et al. 2001 in SDSS data).
Distance
Currently the most precise distance estimate of 2MASS 0243-2453 is published in 2004 by Vrba et al. trigonometric parallax, measured under U.S. Naval Observatory Infrared Astrometry Program: 93.62 ± 3.63 mas, corresponding to a distance 10.68 ± 0.43 pc, or 34.84 ± 1.41 ly.
2MASS 0727+1710 distance estimates
Non-trigonometric distance estimates are marked in italic. The best estimate is marked in bold.
Space motion
Position of 2MASS 0243-2453 shifts due to its proper motion by 0.3548 arcseconds per year.
Properties
Using an evolutionary model, the surface temperature of 2MASS 0243-2453 is estimated to be 1040–1100 K, and its mass is estimated at 2.4–4.1% that of the Sun, its diameter 9.2 to 10.6 that of the Sun, and age 0.4–1.7 billion years.
As with other brown dwarfs of spectral type T, its spectrum is dominated of methane.