[2] This system was discovered by Kevin Luhman, astronomer from Pennsylvania State University and a researcher at Penn State's Center for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds,[12] from images made by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) Earth-orbiting satellite—NASA infrared-wavelength 40 cm (16 in) space telescope, a mission that lasted from December 2009 to February 2011; the discovery images were taken from January 2010 to January 2011, and the discovery was announced in 2013 (the pair are the only two objects announced in the discovery paper).

The system was found by comparing WISE images at different epochs to reveal objects that have high proper motions.

[12][5] Luhman 16 appears in the sky close to the galactic plane, which is densely populated by stars; the abundance of light sources makes it difficult to spot faint objects.

The components of the system were resolved with an angular distance of 1.5 arcseconds, corresponding to a projected separation of 3 AU, and a magnitude difference of 0.45 mag.

The name originates from the frequently updated Washington Double Star Catalog (WDS).

[15] The rationale is that Luhman 16 is easier to remember than WISE J104915.57−531906.1 and that "it seems silly to call this object by a 24-character name (space included)".

[1] The trigonometric parallax of Luhman 16 as published by Sahlmann & Lazorenko (2015) is 0.50051±0.00011 arcsec, corresponding to a distance of 6.5166 ± 0.0013 light-years (1.998 ± 0.0004 parsecs).

[14] Subsequent observations with Hubble and Gaia improved the parallax to 500.993+0.059−0.048 ±0.050 mas, corresponding to a distance of 1.996036+0.00019−0.00024 ±0.0002 parsec, which is accurate to about 50 astronomical units.

[note 3] Both systems are located in neighboring constellations, in the same part of the sky as seen from Earth, but Luhman 16 is a bit farther away.

Assuming these values for the components, and a mass ratio of Luhman 16 from Sahlmann & Lazorenko (2015) of 0.78,[14] the system's barycentre radial velocity is about 21.5 km/s (13.4 mi/s).

[note 4] This implies that Luhman 16 passed by the Solar System around 36,000 years ago at a minimal distance of about 5.05 ly (1.55 pc).

[8] With the data from Gaia DR2 in 2018, their orbit was refined to a period of 27.5±0.4 years, with a semi-major axis of 3.56±0.025 AU, an eccentricity of 0.343±0.005, and an inclination of 100.26°±0.05° (facing the opposite direction as the 2017 study found).

[21] However, in 2022, Luhman 16 was found to be a member of the newly discovered Oceanus moving group, which has an age of 510±95 Myr.

[6] Subsequent astrometric monitoring of Luhman 16 with the Very Large Telescope has excluded the presence of any third object with a mass greater than 2 MJup orbiting around either brown dwarf with a period between 20 and 300 days.

[14] Observations with the Hubble Space Telescope in 2014–2016 confirmed the nonexistence of any additional brown dwarfs in the system.

Additional observations with Hubble rules out the existence of a planet with >1.5 Neptune masses at an orbit of 400 to 5000 days.

[2] A study by Gillon et al. (2013) found that Luhman 16B exhibited uneven surface illumination during its rotation.

[25][26] Their research confirmed the observation of Gillon et al., finding a large, dark region at the middle latitudes, a bright area near its upper pole, and mottled illumination elsewhere.

Luhman 16A shows a flat plateau beyond 8.5 μm, which is indicative of small grain silicates.

[28] Using data collected by TESS,the research team, Dániel Apai, Domenico Nardiello and Luigi R. Bedin, found that the brown dwarf, between star and gas giant, is more similar to Jupiter in that its high-speed winds form stripes parallel to the equators of Luhman 16 AB.