WISEP J180026.60+013453.1: A nearby late-L dwarf near the galactic plane

Abstract

We report a nearby L7.5 dwarf discovered using the Preliminary Data Release of the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and the Two Micron All Sky Survey. WISEP J180026.60+013453.1 has a motion of 0.42arcsecyr-1 and an estimated distance of 8.8 1.0pc. With this distance, it currently ranks as the sixth closest known L dwarf, although a trigonometric parallax is needed to confirm this distance. It was previously overlooked because it lies near the Galactic plane (b = 12°). As a relatively bright and nearby late L dwarf with normal near-infrared colors, W1800+0134 will serve as a benchmark for studies of cloud-related phenomena in cool substellar atmospheres. © 2011. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.