Time resolved spectroscopy of the variable brown dwarf Kelu-1

Abstract

We report the results of observations designed to investigate the spectroscopic signatures of dust clouds on the L2 brown dwarf Kelu-1. Time resolved medium resolution spectra show no significant evidence of variability in the dust sensitive TiO, CrH and FeH bandheads on the timescale of 1--24 hours. We do however report periodic variability in the psuedo-equivelent width of H-alpha consistent with the 1.8 hour rotation period previously reported for this object Clarke, Tinney & Tolley (2002). Near-contemporaneous I-band photometry shows evidence for non-periodic variability at the level of 2%.