Gaia and GRAVITY Unmask Brown Dwarfs Lurking Near Bright Stars
Astronomers have successfully observed brown dwarfs near bright stars for the first time, using the Gaia satellite and the Very Large Telescope’s GRAVITY instrument. Out…
A brown dwarf is a type of substellar object that occupies the intermediate category between the largest planets and the smallest stars, typically having a mass between approximately 13 and 80 times that of Jupiter. Brown dwarfs form in a similar manner to stars, from the gravitational collapse of gas and dust clouds, but they lack sufficient mass to sustain the nuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium, the process that powers true stars. Instead, brown dwarfs may fuse deuterium, a heavier isotope of hydrogen, or lithium if they are massive enough. They are generally cooler than stars and emit most of their light in the infrared spectrum, making them difficult to detect with traditional optical telescopes. The study of brown dwarfs provides valuable insights into both stellar and planetary formation processes and helps astronomers understand the characteristics and frequency of objects in our galaxy.
Astronomers have successfully observed brown dwarfs near bright stars for the first time, using the Gaia satellite and the Very Large Telescope’s GRAVITY instrument. Out…
Astronomers combined Gaia and GRAVITY data to image dim objects near bright stars, potentially revolutionizing the search for nearby exoplanets. Detecting faint objects close to…
James Webb Space Telescope data pinpoints possible aurorae on isolated world in our solar neighborhood. Using new observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST),…
New observations provide insights into whether the birth of the giant planets takes a similar course to that of stars. The birth of stars is…
Infrared Emission From Methane Suggests Atmospheric Heating by Auroral Processes Astronomers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have found a brown dwarf (an object more…
Discovery helps answer question: How small can you go when forming stars? Brown dwarfs are sometimes called failed stars, since they form like stars through…
Cooler than a campfire and smaller than Jupiter, this brown dwarf star is a rare find. University of Sydney astronomers have studied the coldest star…
A recent study directly images four new brown dwarfs. Brown dwarfs are mysterious celestial bodies that fall between the heaviest planets and the lightest stars,…
New study finds a world about 146 light years away that’s not quite a planet, not quite a brown dwarf. Citizen scientists have discovered a…
A team of researchers at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) and the Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrónica (INAOE), Mexico, has discovered…
An international team, led by the UNIGE, has investigated five astronomical objects that could help us understand the mysterious nature of brown dwarfs. Brown dwarfs…
Jupiter may be the bully planet of our solar system because it’s the most massive planet, but it’s actually a runt compared to many of…
Astronomers at Western University have discovered the most rapidly rotating brown dwarfs known. They found three brown dwarfs that each complete a full rotation roughly…
Planetary scientists wondered if bands of winds or swirling storms dominated the atmospheres of brown dwarfs. University of Arizona-led research has solved the mystery. A…
Gemini North and IRTF Confirm LOFAR Discovery For the first time, astronomers have used observations from the LOFAR radio telescope, the NASA IRTF, operated by…
Citizen scientists and NOIRLab facilities key to discovery of almost 100 nearby cool brown dwarfs. How complete is our census of the Sun’s closest neighbors?…
Data from NASA’s NEOWISE mission, managed by the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, fuels the search for these not-quite-planets-but-not-quite-stars. With the help of citizen scientists, astronomers…
Astronomers have used the National Science Foundation’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) and NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope to make the first measurement of…