A Proper Motion Survey Using the First Sky Pass of NEOWISE-Reactivation Data

TL;DR

This study used NEOWISE data to identify over 20,000 high proper motion objects, including new L and T dwarfs, expanding the catalog of nearby stars and brown dwarfs with detailed follow-up observations.

Contribution

It presents the first sky pass NEOWISE proper motion survey, discovering over a thousand new objects and providing comprehensive data for nearby stellar and substellar objects.

Findings

Identified 20,548 high proper motion objects, 1,006 new discoveries.

Uncovered a larger sample of faint objects than previous surveys.

Follow-up spectroscopy confirmed several nearby and late-type objects.

Abstract

The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) was reactivated in December of 2013 (NEOWISE) to search for potentially hazardous near-Earth objects. We have conducted a survey using the first sky pass of NEOWISE data and the AllWISE catalog to identify nearby stars and brown dwarfs with large proper motions ($\mu_{\rm total}$ $\gtrsim$ 250 mas yr$^{-1}$). A total of 20,548 high proper motion objects were identified, 1,006 of which are new discoveries. This survey has uncovered a significantly larger sample of fainter objects (W2 $\gtrsim$13 mag) than the previous WISE motion surveys of Luhman (2014a) and Kirkpatrick et al. (2014). Many of these objects are predicted to be new L and T dwarfs based on near- and mid-infrared colors. Using estimated spectral types along with distance estimates, we have identified several objects likely belonging to the nearby Solar neighborhood (d $<$ 25 pc). We have followed up 19 of these new discoveries with near-infrared or optical spectroscopy, focusing on potentially nearby objects, objects with the latest predicted spectral types, and potential late-type subdwarfs. This subset includes 6 M dwarfs, 5 of which are likely subdwarfs, as well as 8 L dwarfs and 5 T dwarfs, many of which have blue near-infrared colors. As an additional supplement, we provide 2MASS and AllWISE positions and photometry for every object found in our search, as well as 2MASS/AllWISE calculated proper motions.