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Astronomers Report Mysterious Brown Dwarfs Form Like Stars, not Planets
New evidence suggests that Brown Dwarfs, the hulking celestial bodies that have stumped scientists since they were first observed less than two decades ago, are more closely related to stars than planets.
An international team of astronomers presented evidence Thursday that not only do the faint, cool bodies form like stars, but they may be orbited by planets of their own.
Like stars, brown dwarfs are born surrounded by disks, which may be capable of forming planetary systems,'' said Charles Lada, a senior astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Lada presented the results on behalf of his colleagues at the 198th meeting of the American Astronomical Society.
Brown dwarfs are objects with masses that range between 10 and 70 times that of the planet Jupiter. Though enormous compared to planets, the gaseous bodies are not large enough to shine like stars because their masses are too low to ignite and sustain nuclear burning.
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