Cool Stars - Y Dwarfs - Stellar Classification - Science at NASA
In astronomy, stellar classification is the classification of stars based on their spectral characteristics. Electromagnetic radiation from the star is analyzed by splitting it with a prism or diffraction grating into a spectrum exhibiting the rainbow of colors interspersed with absorption lines. Each line indicates an ion of a certain chemical element, with the line strength indicating the abundance of that ion. The relative abundance of the different ions varies with the temperature of the photosphere. The spectral class of a star is a short code summarizing the ionization state, giving an objective measure of the photosphere's temperature and density.
Most stars are currently classified under the Morgan–Keenan (MK) system using the letters O, B, A, F, G, K, and M, a sequence from the hottest (O type) to the coolest (M type). Each letter class is then subdivided using a numeric digit with 0 being hottest and 9 being coolest (e.g. A8, A9, F0, F1 form a sequence from hotter to cooler). The sequence has been expanded with classes for other stars and star-like objects that do not fit in the classical system, such as class D for white dwarfs and class C for carbon stars.
In the MK system, a luminosity class is added to the spectral class using Roman numerals. This is based on the width of certain absorption lines in the star's spectrum, which vary with the density of the atmosphere and so distinguish giant stars from dwarfs. Luminosity class 0 or Ia+ stars for hypergiants, class I stars for supergiants, class II for bright giants, class III for regular giants, class IV for sub-giants, class V for main-sequence stars, class sd for sub-dwarfs, and class D for white dwarfs. The full spectral class for the Sun is then G2V, indicating a main-sequence star with a temperature around 5,800 K.
Brown dwarfs of spectral class Y are cooler than those of spectral class T and have qualitatively different spectra from them. A total of 17 objects have been placed in class Y as of August 2013. Although such dwarfs have been modelled and detected within forty light years by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) there is no well-defined spectral sequence yet with prototypes. Nevertheless, several objects have been assigned spectral classes Y0, Y1, and Y2. The spectra of these objects display absorption around 1.55 micrometers. Delorme et al. has suggested that this feature is due to absorption from ammonia and that this should be taken as indicating the T–Y transition, making these objects of type Y0. In fact, this ammonia-absorption feature is the main criterion that has been adopted to define this class. However, this feature is difficult to distinguish from absorption by water and methane, and other authors have stated that the assignment of class Y0 is premature.
The brown dwarf with the latest assigned spectral type, WISE 1828+2650, is a higher then Y2 dwarf with an effective temperature originally estimated around 300 K, the temperature of the human body. Parallax measurements have, however, since shown that its luminosity is inconsistent with it being colder than ~400 K. The coolest Y dwarf currently known is WISE 0855-0714 with an approximate temperature of 250 K.
The mass range for Y dwarfs is 9–25 Jupiter masses, but for young objects might reach below one Jupiter mass, which means that Y class objects straddle the 13 Jupiter mass deuterium-fusion limit that marks the division between brown dwarfs and planets
Source: www.nasa.gov and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar...
CREDIT: National Aeronautics and Space Administration
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