Weighing the Smallest Stars

[zavvy]

<b>Weighing the Smallest Stars</b><br /><br />LINK<br /><br />Summary<br /><br />Thanks to the powerful new high-contrast camera installed at the Very Large Telescope, photos have been obtained of a low-mass companion very close to a star. This has allowed astronomers to measure directly the mass of a young, very low mass object for the first time. <br /><br />The object, more than 100 times fainter than its host star, is still 93 times as massive as Jupiter. And it appears to be almost twice as heavy as theory predicts it to be. <br /><br />This discovery therefore suggests that, due to errors in the models, astronomers may have overestimated the number of young "brown dwarfs" and "free floating" extrasolar planets. <br />

 

[vogon13]

Perhaps object originally 2 bodies of 'correct' mass in binary arrangement that tidally decayed. Not sure single example is too significant yet. Find another one or two and theories needed to be added to, or changed. Those 'hot Jupiters' sure turned out to be way more common than I thought they'd be after first one discovered. I still intuitively believe objects smaller than M stars should come in a continuum of sizes. Like to see more posts on this topic.<br /><br /><br /><br />Dust daily if you can.<br />Heloise <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[alokmohan]

We need more data surely to come to a conclusion regarding deleting some extrasolar planets.

 

[nexium]

So how many brown dwarfs and free floating planets did they perhaps over estimate per cubic parsec? I hate generalities. Neil

 

[alkalin]

Nearby large dark bodies?<br />Zavvy, thanks for this article. An overestimate?? on nearby ‘planets’? I suspect there are a large number of cool almost star size and larger bodies out there that are being vastly underestimated. Many more of these exist than we think yet simply because they are too dark to give off enough light or energy to see. Do they comprise part of the so called ‘dark matter’?<br /><br />For every doubling of distance there is a one forth leftover light from various objects. If we are only beginning to see them on our doorstep, so to speak, we very well cannot yet see them in more distant space, unless we can develop very much more sensitive detectors? So in the mean time we swim in murky De Nile because these bodies are not supposed to exist.<br /><br /><br />