The Y Dwarf Population with HST: unlocking the secrets of our coolest neighbours -- II. Parallaxes and Proper Motions

TL;DR

This study uses HST and Gaia data to measure precise distances and motions of 15 cold Y-type brown dwarfs, significantly improving previous astrometric accuracy and validating their properties.

Contribution

It provides highly precise parallaxes and proper motions for Y dwarfs by linking HST and Gaia data, enhancing distance measurements for the coldest brown dwarfs.

Findings

Achieved sub-milliarcsecond parallax uncertainties for half the sample.

Improved astrometric precision by 2-5 times over previous measurements.

Validated and refined the distances and motions of Y dwarfs, consistent with recent studies.

Abstract

We present astrometric results from a Hubble Space Telescope (HST) campaign aimed at determining precise distances for cold Y-type brown dwarfs. Combining observations from a dedicated HST/WFC3 program with archival data, we derive astrometric solutions for 15 nearby Y dwarfs, by linking the high-precision relative astrometry from Hubble to the high-accuracy Gaia DR3 absolute reference system, using stars present in both to anchor the two frames of reference. We reach uncertainties on parallaxes below the 1-mas level for half of the sample, and down to 3 mas for two thirds of the targets, or relative precisions <1% in most cases and 2-5x improvements over previous measurements. For the remaining targets, we achieved slightly lower precisions on parallaxes (5-12 mas, 5-10%), correlated with the lower signal-to-noise of the faintest targets. The precision reached in our derived proper motions is around 0.1-0.4 mas/yr for most targets, and up to 1-2 mas/yr for less precise cases. Our estimated parallaxes and proper motions are generally in good agreement with literature values, and consistent to 1-2 sigma with recent Spitzer-derived parallaxes in most cases. These new astrometric solutions provide important validation of these objects' distances and sky motions, especially given the large disparities seen in previous estimates. Our results demonstrate the power of HST combined with Gaia to measure highly-precise absolute astrometry for faint brown dwarfs, and highlights the limitations reached for the reddest and coldest objects, for which JWST will certainly provide a favourable platform to improve these results.