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Cold stars?

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_Z_

Posted: Jun 4 2007, 10:59 PM

O-4 Major

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Cold object delights astronomers

QUOTE

Astrophysicists have found a star-like object with a surface temperature just one tenth that of the Sun. The cold object is known as a brown dwarf: a "failed" star that never achieved the mass required to begin nuclear fusion reactions in its core.

This find further tests the boundary between high-mass gas planets and the smallest brown dwarfs.

The last statement has me a bit confused. Stars are stars, and planets are planets. If J0034-00 was a planet, I would think it wouldn't emit light at all. Stars, OTOH, come in all sizes and colors. I was under the belief that brown dwarfs are the remnant of a red giant, which in turn was a 'cooled off' white or blue star that hadn't supernovaed. If this dwarf is in reality a planet, then there should be a brighter star around it that it's reflecting light from- no?

Andrew	Posted: Jun 5 2007, 06:49 AM
Chief of Staff Group: Admin Posts: 9,001 Member No.: 1 Joined: 17-November 04	They honestly don't know and it is all speculation and theory. All they can confirm is that they found something of size 'x'.

_Z_	Posted: Jun 5 2007, 08:02 AM
O-4 Major Group: Founders Posts: 2,306 Member No.: 2 Joined: 18-November 04	Hertzsprung-Russell Star Chart (courtesy link) I always thought the natural (and assumed) placement for brown dwarfs was at the lower end of the main sequence. This seems to be the opinion of some astrophysicists as well. Admittedly however, I'm not well versed on the theories of solar generation- that is- what starts a spacial mass to begin the fusion process to become a star.

TC_	Posted: Jun 5 2007, 08:28 AM
E-7 Sergeant First Class Group: Special Forces Posts: 411 Member No.: 49 Joined: 22-June 05	It is believed that Jupiter was a proto star that didn't quite have enought mass to ignite nuclear fusion. If it had, our solar system would now be a binary star system as I think a majority of them are.

_Z_	Posted: Jun 5 2007, 08:56 AM
O-4 Major Group: Founders Posts: 2,306 Member No.: 2 Joined: 18-November 04	If it had, we'd be toast! I believe there's some kind of similarity ratio to stable binaries, as far as solar mass. If Jupiter had somehow evolved, I think the Sun would have swallowed it. Size-wise the Sun is about 35x (I think?) that if Jupiter. Mass-wise, it's considerably greater. J0034-00 is 15-30x the mass of Jupiter, yet is of similar size.

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