@Ponderable
They're getting close to each other. From your link:
Astronomers are trying to determine the smallest object that can form in a star-like manner. An international team using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has identified the new record-holder: a tiny, free-floating brown dwarf with only three to four times the mass of Jupiter.
@Ponderable
They're getting close to each other. From your link:
Astronomers are trying to determine the smallest object that can form in a star-like manner. An international team using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has identified the new record-holder: a tiny, free-floating brown dwarf with only three to four times the mass of Jupiter.
It's hard to get the mind around a "tiny" "dwarf" object 3-4 times the mass of Jupiter.
@Kewpie
I think they were able to measure the mass and it is more massive but the only heat comes from it's own internal heat sources which does not include fusion so the surprising thing to me is how long it can keep up such heat, billions of years of it.
@sonhouse saidProbably not "billions" just "millions", IC 348 is a so-called "Star-craddle" where (comparatively) recently stars were formed. ESA looked for brown dwarf especially in regions, where still some temperature is to be expected to get them onto their infrared instrument 😉
@Kewpie
I think they were able to measure the mass and it is more massive but the only heat comes from it's own internal heat sources which does not include fusion so the surprising thing to me is how long it can keep up such heat, billions of years of it.
There is a not so new paper on the cluster:
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1086/376594/pdf
@Ponderable
Ah, so it is early in its career🙂 I wonder if Webb will look for those dwarfs too? It shines in IR.
