Astronomers, at last, get a chance to size up a brown dwarf

[telfrow]

<i>Brown dwarfs -- failed stars that fall somewhere between the smallest stars and the largest planets on the spectrum of heavenly objects -- have always been viewed by astronomers as a critical link in the understanding of how both stars and planets form. <br /><br />The trouble with brown dwarfs, however, is that they are hard to find and, so far, they have defied nearly all attempts to accurately assess their size. <br /><br />But now astronomers, including a University of Wisconsin-Madison astronomer, report the discovery of a pair of young brown dwarfs in mutual orbit, a discovery that has enabled scientists to weigh and measure the radius of brown dwarfs for the first time. <br /><br />The discovery of the paired brown dwarfs and critical measurements of the unsuccessful stars are reported in the March 16 issue of Nature, a leading scientific journal, by a team of astronomers from Vanderbilt University, UW-Madison and the Space Telescope Science Institute. <br /><br />"To really know for sure if something is a brown dwarf, you have to measure its mass," says Robert Mathieu, a UW-Madison professor of astronomy and an author of the new Nature report. "This was our first opportunity to do so with precision for young brown dwarfs."</i><br /><br />Full Story Here<br /><br /><b>Photo Caption:</b> <i>A binary brown dwarf system found in the Orion Nebula gives astronomers their first opportunity to make detailed measurements of the failed stars. Brown dwarfs are stars that, because they lack sufficient mass, fail to achieve nuclear fusion. The star system is oriented so it can be observed edge-on from Earth, giving astronomers a chance to weigh and measure the radii of the stars. Image courtesy: Space Telescope Science Institute</i> <br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <strong><font color="#3366ff">Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild.</font> - <font color="#3366ff"><em>Tennyson</em></font></strong> </div>

 

[robnissen]

Very interesting. The one thing I would add to your post, is that the size of the brown dwarfs is estimated at 5.5 and 3.5% the mass of the sun. Interestingly, the smaller brown dwarf is hotter. <br />BTW, one final question about brown dwarfs, do big stars go brown dwarf bowling? Sowwy.