Methane Emission From a Cool Brown Dwarf
In Faherty et al. (including Rowland) 2024 (published in Nature), we detected methane in emission in an isolated, cold brown dwarf, which we believe is an auroral signature.
The spectrum of WISE 1935 shows an emission feature at 3.33 microns, which corresponds to the q-branch of methane.
We performed retrievals on WISE 1935, an isolated brown dwarf with no host star, and found a temperature inversion. This temperature inversion could be caused by electons deposted into the upper atmosphere via auroral proceses.