Giant Exoplanets Form Differently Than ‘Failed Stars’ – Mass-ive Distinction
A team of astronomers led by Brendan Bowler of The University of Texas at Austin has probed the formation process of giant exoplanets and brown…
Brown Dwarf
Astronomers Measure Temperature Shift in Brown Dwarfs for the First Time
Brown dwarfs, the larger cousins of giant planets, undergo atmospheric changes from cloudy to cloudless as they age and cool. A team of astronomers led…
Astronomers Propose New Limit on the Definition of a Planet
Pluto hogs the spotlight in the continuing scientific debate over what is and what is not a planet, but a less conspicuous argument rages on…
Hubble Telescope Discovers Substellar Objects in the Orion Nebula
In an unprecedented deep survey for small, faint objects in the Orion Nebula, astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have uncovered the largest known population…
James Webb Space Telescope to Investigate Mysterious Brown Dwarfs
Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are. Astronomers are hopeful that the powerful infrared capability of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope will…
Astronomers Measure the Spin Rates of Stellar Companions
Taking a picture of an exoplanet—a planet in a solar system beyond our sun—is no easy task. The light of a planet’s parent star far…
Astronomers Explain the Varying Glow of Brown Dwarfs
Using data from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, astronomers reveal that the varying glow of brown dwarfs over time can be explained by bands of patchy…
Backyard Worlds Planet 9 Citizen Science Project Discovers a Brown Dwarf
The Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 Citizen Science Project has discovered its first substellar object, WISEA J110125.95+540052.8 – a T5.5 brown dwarf located approximately 34 pc…
Harvard Astronomers Examine Y-Type Brown Dwarfs
A newly published Harvard-Smithsonian study of the twenty-four known Y-dwarfs finds that the models for the coolest of them fail to explain the observed properties….
Astronomers Identify Massive 10 Billion Year Old Brown Dwarf
Astronomers have identified a brown dwarf that was formed about 10 billion years ago and is made of gas that is around 250 times purer…
First Direct Evidence of the Formation Process of Brown Dwarfs
Using the Very Large Array, an international team of astronomers has discovered jets of material ejected by still-forming young brown dwarfs, revealing the first direct…
Disproving the Predicted Brown Dwarf around V471 Tau
Using the new extreme-AO instrument SPHERE, researchers image the prototype eclipsing post-common envelope binary V471 Tau in search of the brown dwarf that is believed…
Indications of Water Clouds in a Brown Dwarf 7 Light-Years from Earth
A team of astronomers has discovered indications of water clouds in the coldest known brown dwarf, which is located 7.3 light-years from Earth. Astronomers have…
Spitzer and WISE Discover Coldest Known Brown Dwarf
NASA’s WISE and Spitzer Space Telescope have discovered the coldest known brown dwarf, which is located 7.2 light-years away. NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)…
Astronomers Discover a Brown Dwarf with an Extremely Red Appearance
Astronomers from the University of Hertfordshire’s Center for Astrophysics Research have discovered a brown dwarf (ULAS J222711-004547) that has an atmosphere where the sky is…
ESO’s VLT Charts First Map of Weather on the Surface of a Brown Dwarf
ESO’s Very Large Telescope has charted the first ever map of the weather on the surface of a Brown Dwarf. An international team has made…
T-Dwarf Provides Benchmark for Future Exoplanet Research
Researchers have directly imaged a very rare type of brown dwarf, opening the door towards a fuller understanding of exoplanets. Mauna Kea, Hawaii – A…
Spitzer Discovers Turbulent Weather on Brown Dwarfs
Using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, astronomers have discovered that many brown dwarfs have turbulent weather similar to Jupiter’s “Great Red Spot.” Swirling, stormy clouds may…