The existence of dark matter is probably one of the fundamental mysteries of modern science and unraveling its nature has become one of the primary goals of modern Physics. Despite representing 85% of all matter in the Universe, we do not know what it is. In its simplest description, it is made up of particles that interact with each other and with ordinary matter only through gravity. However, this description does not correspond to any physical model. Finding out what dark matter is requires finding evidence of some kind of interaction of dark matter that goes beyond gravity. In our work
The Near-Infrared Spectrometer and Photometer (NISP) on board the Euclid space mission has obtained near-infrared (NIR) spectra of millions of objects, including hundreds of ultracool dwarfs (UCDs). Euclid observations retrieve images and slitless spectra simultaneously. This observing mode marks a new era in the discovery of new objects, such as L- and T-type dwarfs, which can be found from direct identification through the H2O and CH4 absorption bands. NISP spectral resolution (R ∼ 450) is enough to classify the objects by the spectral type using known standard templates. Q1 provided more
WISEA J181006.18-101000.5 (WISE1810) is the nearest metal-poor ultracool dwarf to the Sun. It has a low effective temperature and has been classified as an extreme early-T subdwarf. However, methane--the characteristic molecule of the spectral class T--was not detected in the previous low-resolution spectrum. Constraining the metallicity--the abundance of elements heavier than helium-- of these cold objects has been a challenge. Using the 10.4 m Gran Telescopio Canarias, the largest optical-infrared telescope in the world, we collected a high-quality near-infrared intermediate-resolution