1999ApJ...512..916S

Systematic follow-up of high proper-motion stars has identified a new cool magnetic white dwarf that displays a series of spectacular absorption bands in the range 4200-6500 Å. The spectrum bears a striking resemblance to that of LP 790-29, a magnetic DQ star dominated by what are apparently Zeeman-shifted Swan bands of C₂. However, key differences in the detailed spectra, polarization, and temperature of the two stars indicate that instead LHS 2229 may represent the first case of a magnetic ``peculiar'' DQ white dwarf, where absorption in the optical is produced by C₂H or another carbon-hydrogen compound. Crude arguments suggest that the field strength on LHS 2229 is in the neighborhood of 10⁸ G. BVI photometry proves to be effective in identifying such peculiar stars, since they lie well outside the main white dwarf sequence in a color-color diagram.