Nine New Brown Dwarf Candidates in Coma Berenices and the Hyades

Spectroscopically confirmed brown dwarf members of Coma Berenices and the Hyades

Authors:

Casewell et al

Abstract:

We have obtained low and medium resolution spectra of 9 brown dwarf candidate members of Coma Berenices and the Hyades using SpEX on the NASA InfaRed Telescope Facility and LIRIS on the William Herschel Telescope. We conclude that 7 of these objects are indeed late M or early L dwarfs, and that two are likely members of Coma Berenices, and four of the Hyades. Two objects, cbd40 and Hy3 are suggested to be a field L dwarfs, although there is also a possibility that Hy3 is an unresolved binary belonging to the cluster. These objects have masses between 71 and 53 MJup, close to the hydrogen burning boundary for these clusters, however only an optical detection of Lithium can confirm if they are truly substellar.