Astronomers have discovered brown dwarfs beyond the Milky Way using the James Webb telescope, revealing new insights into these failed stars.
Brown dwarfs found beyond the Milky Way
Astronomers have discovered brown dwarfs outside the Milky Way galaxy, specifically in the star cluster NGC 602 near the Small Magellanic Cloud. These findings were made possible by observations from the Hubble and James Webb telescopes.What are brown dwarfs
Brown dwarfs are celestial objects that are too massive to be planets but not massive enough to sustain nuclear fusion like stars. They are often referred to as "failed stars" and resemble gas giants such as Jupiter in size and composition.Citizen scientists help map brown dwarfs
In 2023, astronomers used data from the James Webb telescope to identify a group of potential brown dwarfs in the NGC 602 cluster. This research involved the participation of citizen scientists, who helped analyze the data and identify these elusive objects.3D map of nearby brown dwarfs
Using the collected data, scientists have created the most detailed 3D map of brown dwarfs within a 65-light-year radius of Earth. This map provides new insights into the distribution and characteristics of these objects in our local space environment.
