Uncovering Failed Stars: NASA's Search for "Brown Dwarfs"
/ CBS News
Astronomers believe this is one of the coldest brown dwarfs discovered by astronomers to date (red dot in middle of frame). The brown dwarfs' temperatures are believed to be about 450 Kelvin to 600 Kelvin (350 to 620 degrees Fahrenheit). Hot to you and me but super cold for a star.
Artist sketch: Failed stars
Artist's conception predicting the hundreds of failed stars, or brown dwarfs, that NASA expects to add to the population of known stars in our solar neighborhood. Our sun and other known stars appear white, yellow or red. Predicted brown dwarfs are deep red.
Astronomers note that brown dwarfs are like planets in certain respects, but they exist in isolation. Astronomer Daniel Stern, co-author of the paper at JPL, said that's one of the attractions for researchers: "This makes them exciting for astronomers," he said. "They are the perfect laboratories to study bodies with planetary masses."
Artist's sketch: Comparison of two celestial systems
Artist's conception shows the relative size of a hypothetical brown dwarf-planetary system (below) compared to our own solar system.
Brown dwarfs, which basically are failed stars are light years away from earth and impossible to see with current visible-light telescopes. But NASA scientists say that their presence implies that there are a hundred or more within only 25 light-years of our sun.
Artist's sketch: Dimmest star-like bodies known to man
Artist's conception shows the dimmest star-like bodies currently known. These twins, which are about the same size, are drawn as if viewed from one side. Formed out of collapsing balls of gas and dust, the smallest known brown dwarfs are about 5 to 10 times the mass of our planet Jupiter.
Artist's sketch: How brown dwarfs stack up in comparsion
Artist's rendition comparing brown dwarfs to stars and planets. All objects are plotted to the same scale.