WISE 0855 Archives

First Detection Of Variable Water Clouds Outside Of Our Solar System

by Keith CowingOctober 9, 2026October 9, 2026

[University Of Arizona]. A Jupiter-sized world just 7.5 light-years away is cloudy, chemically complex, and, it turns out, more like home than anyone expected.

The time-series spectra with the full wavelength range (in microns) of the observations shown on the x-axis, observation time (in hours) on the y-axis, and a color bar representing the amplitude variability for any given flux value as a percent deviation from the mean. The 2 wavelength regions used to construct the light curves are shown where each has a distinct variability pattern. Region 1: negative, positive, negative positive amplitude; Region 2: negative, positive amplitude. The picket fence pattern (narrow striping) visible in region 2 is due to CO absorption. -- astro-ph.SR

Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

A Deep Search For Exomoons Around WISE 0855 With JWST

by Keith CowingNovember 7, 2025November 7, 2025

JWST is collecting time-series observations of many free-floating planets (FFPs) to study their weather, but these light curves are the ideal datasets to search for exomoons that transit the FFP […]

Comparison of spectra for WISE 0855 from Gemini/GNIRS (Skemer et al. 2016; Morley et al. 2018; Miles et al. 2020) and JWST/NIRSpec (this work). -- astro-ph.SR

Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Brown Dwarfs, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

JWST/NIRSpec Observations Of The Coldest Known Brown Dwarf

by Keith CowingNovember 30, 2023November 30, 2023

We present 1-5um spectroscopy of the coldest known brown dwarf, WISE J085510.83-071442.5 (WISE 0855), performed with the Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) on board the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).