The University of Geneva or UNIGE recently investigated the features of brown dwarfs. The study was made possible through the information observed from five distinct astronomical objects, which scientists believe are key to better understand the mystery behind brown dwarfs.
What Are Brown Dwarfs?
Brown dwarfs are stellar bodies that exist in the space between other cosmic objects such as planets and stars. The mysterious astronomical material is considered to be among the most puzzling entities that exist in the cosmos. For example, brown dwarfs are comprised of a mass that is still not measured accurately, along with its limits undefined.
According to SciTechDaily, the measurements of brown dwarfs are often lined with low-mass stars as they have seemingly parallel features. However, the true aspects that define the difference between brown dwarfs and low-mass stars are not yet clear.
UNIGE, along with the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research and the University of Bern, managed to carry out a collaborative effort to determine how brown dwarfs and low-mass stars are distinguished from each other. The institutes acquired several pieces of information from five objects that the experts believe are key to a comprehensive brown dwarfs study.
Understanding the Difference Between Brown Dwarfs and Stars
Gaseous planets, including Jupiter, have a similar composition when compared to stars. The stellar bodies are frequently made up of hydrogen and helium. Although similar to gaseous planets, stars are actually massive and have an intensive gravitational pull.
These peculiarities with brown dwarfs allow them to naturally produce energy and light emissions by utilizing their own present hydrogen atoms, which are frequently transitioning into helium.
Brown dwarfs are on the other side of the cosmic object spectrum. The materials, although considered to be a stellar phase, do not have many compositions to offer. Because of this, brown dwarfs cannot fuse hydrogen, meaning they do not have any ability to show up glowing with extreme light emission across the galaxy. Instead of hydrogen, brown dwarfs are found to contain deuterium.
Deuteriums are considered the heavier version of hydrogen. Containing deuterium makes brown dwarfs exhibit low efficient light that is significantly weaker than the usual star. The qualities of brown dwarfs have made the astronomy experts tag them as 'failed stars.'
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite or TESS is the instrument used to observe the properties of five companions charted around their own host stars. The objects of interest are bigger and heavier in mass than the solar system's biggest planet Jupiter.
Because of their weird features, the materials are stuck between the brown dwarf and star categories. However, the experts were able to identify the factors that would make them sorted out, and this was through the size, radius, collective mass, and burning activities.
Further research will be held to produce a more accurate reading and point out the brown dwarfs among the rest. The whole coverage of the study was published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, titled "Populating the Brown Dwarf and Stellar Boundary: Five Stars With Transiting Companions Near the Hydrogen-Burning Mass Limit."
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