Component A was discovered in late 2009[note 1] from a search of Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7, an astronomical survey conducted at Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico, United States.

[6] Component B was discovered in early 2010 from UKIDSS Large Area Survey (ULAS) Data Release 5[5] & 6,[4] an astronomical survey conducted on the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) on Mauna Kea in Hawaii.

Space motion of SDSS J1416+1348 indicates that it is member of Galactic thin disk population.

[3][4][6] Since SDSS J1416+1348 moves much faster in radial direction than in tangential direction, and radial velocity is negative, this brown dwarf system should pass the Solar System in the future at a much smaller distance than today's distance.

Proper motion and radial velocity values from Schmidt et al., 2009 and parallax from Dupuy & Liu, 2012, assuming motion with constant velocity along straight line, yield minimal distance 4.9 ly circa year 207100.

[5][4][6][13] According to Cushing et al. 2010, its peculiar spectrum is primarily a result of thin condensate clouds, and also vertical mixing occurs in its atmosphere.