Saturday, May 3, 2014

It’s Freezing on the Surface of this Nearby Star-like Object

It’s Freezing on the Surface of this Nearby Star-like Object:

This artist's conception shows the object named WISE J085510.83-071442.5, the coldest known brown dwarf. Image credit: Penn State University/NASA/JPL-Caltech

This artist’s conception shows the object named WISE J085510.83-071442.5, the coldest known brown dwarf. Image credit: Penn State University/NASA/JPL-Caltech
Our stellar neighborhood just got a little busier … and a little colder.

A brown dwarf that’s as frosty as the Earth’s North Pole has been discovered lurking incredibly close to our Solar System. Astronomer Keven Luhman from Pennsylvania State University used NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and the Spitzer Space Telescope to pinpoint the object’s temperature and distance. This is the coldest brown dwarf found so far, and it’s a mere 7.2 light-years away, making it the seventh closest star-like object to the Sun.

“It is very exciting to discover a new neighbor of our Solar System that is so close,” said Luhman in a press release.

Brown dwarfs emerge when clouds of gas and dust collapse. But unlike stars, they never grow dense enough or burn hot enough to ignite nuclear fusion in their cores. They live their lives less massive than stars, but more massive than gas giants. So they burn hot at first, then cool over time. And this newly discovered brown dwarf is as cold as ice. Literally.

(...)
Read the rest of It’s Freezing on the Surface of this Nearby Star-like Object (413 words)




No comments:

Post a Comment