When it launches in the mid-2020s, NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will explore an expansive range of infrared astrophysics topics. One eagerly anticipated survey will use a gravitational effect called microlensing to reveal thousands of worlds that are similar to the planets in our solar system. Now, a new study shows that the same survey will also unveil more extreme…
Tag: brown dwarfs
Striped brown dwarf looks a lot like Jupiter
The surface features of brown dwarfs – objects midway in mass between planets and stars – can’t be seen. But researchers have found a way to reveal Jupiter-like stripes and bands in the atmosphere of the closest brown dwarf, Luhman 16B. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/brown-dwarf-luhman-16b-jupiter-like-stripes…
Citizen scientists contribute to 3-D map of cosmic neighborhood
Scientists tapped into the worldwide network of volunteers using Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 to map dozens of new brown dwarfs, or balls gas not heavy enough to be stars. Source: https://phys.org/news/2021-01-citizen-scientists-contribute-d-cosmic.html…
New and rare direct image of a brown dwarf
Astronomers have obtained one of the best images yet of a brown dwarf, an object in a mass range midway between stars and planets. This brown dwarf – called HD 33632 Ab – lies 86 light-years from our sun. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/new-brown-dwarf-direct-image-hd-33632-ab…
Faint super-planet discovered by radio telescope
For the first time, astronomers have used observations from a radio telescope and a pair of observatories on Maunakea to discover and characterize a cold brown dwarf, also known as a “super planet” or “failed star.” The discovery, designated BDR J1750+3809, is the first substellar object detected through radio observations—until now, brown dwarfs have largely been found from infrared sky surveys….
What are brown dwarfs?
A brown dwarf is more massive than a planet, but less massive than a star. Exactly how much more and less? Source: https://earthsky.org/space/definition-what-are-brown-dwarfs…