What is Luhman 16?
[[File:Wise1049-5319 Multi-Color (No Marker).png|thumb|right|250px|The Luhman 16 [[Binary star|binary]] [[brown dwarf]] is the yellow disc at the center of this [[Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer|WISE]] image. The two individual stars are seen as one here.]] '''Luhman 16''' is a [[double star|binary]] [[brown dwarf]] in the southern [[constellation]] [[Vela (constellation)|Vela]] at 6.6 [[light-year]]s from the Sun. It is also known as '''WISE 1049-5319'''. These are the nearest known brown dwarfs to the [[Solar System]], and the [[List of nearest stars|closest system]] discovered since [[Barnard's Star]] in 1916.<ref name=Luhman>Luhman K.L. 2013. Discovery of a binary brown dwarf at 2 parsecs from the Sun. ''Astrophysical Journal Letters'', in press. [https://arxiv.org/abs/1303.2401v2]</ref><ref name=PennState>Kennedy, Barbara K. 2013. The closest star system found in a century. Penn State. [http://science.psu.edu/news-and-events/2013-news/Luhman3-2013] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130417184006/http://science.psu.edu/news-and-events/2013-news/Luhman3-2013 |date=2013-04-17 }}</ref> The primary has a [[stellar classification]] of L8 ± 1, and the secondary is probably near the [[Brown_dwarf#Spectral_class_L|L/T transition]]. The pair orbit each other at a distance of about 3 [[Astronomical unit|AU]] with an [[orbital period]] of about 25 years.<ref name=Luhman/> == References == {{Reflist}} [[Category:Binary stars]] {{sci-stub}}