Scientists Describe Extreme Weather Conditions of Dying Stars
- 10 years ago
Brown dwarfs are failed stars that don’t have enough mass to continue the atom fusion necessary to become a fully formed sun. By observing 44 brown dwarfs using the Spitzer telescope, NASA scientists were able to identify certain extreme weather patterns that exist on these celestial bodies.
Brown dwarfs are failed stars that don’t have enough mass to continue the atom fusion necessary to become a fully formed sun.
By observing 44 brown dwarfs using NASA’s Spitzer telescope, scientists were able to identify certain extreme weather patterns that exist on these celestial bodies.
For example, the stormy weather on some brown dwarfs can reportedly cause precipitation made of hard rocks, hot sand, gem stones, or molten iron rain, along with lightning and hurricanes.
According to Doctor Aren Heinze, from Stony Brook University in New York: “This is not like Jupiter's Great Red Spot. The storms on brown dwarfs are much more violent and variable. This is weather, not climate.”
After focusing on one brown dwarf system, known as Luhman 16AB located about 6 and a half light years away from our solar system, astronomers have released a weather report of the extreme conditions that exist there.
This report shows the first and most detailed account of weather on a brown dwarf star, which includes hurricane force winds of 100 to 400 miles per hour, extremely high temperatures of over 2 thousand degrees Fahrenheit, and clouds covering about half of the surface of the star.
Brown dwarfs are failed stars that don’t have enough mass to continue the atom fusion necessary to become a fully formed sun.
By observing 44 brown dwarfs using NASA’s Spitzer telescope, scientists were able to identify certain extreme weather patterns that exist on these celestial bodies.
For example, the stormy weather on some brown dwarfs can reportedly cause precipitation made of hard rocks, hot sand, gem stones, or molten iron rain, along with lightning and hurricanes.
According to Doctor Aren Heinze, from Stony Brook University in New York: “This is not like Jupiter's Great Red Spot. The storms on brown dwarfs are much more violent and variable. This is weather, not climate.”
After focusing on one brown dwarf system, known as Luhman 16AB located about 6 and a half light years away from our solar system, astronomers have released a weather report of the extreme conditions that exist there.
This report shows the first and most detailed account of weather on a brown dwarf star, which includes hurricane force winds of 100 to 400 miles per hour, extremely high temperatures of over 2 thousand degrees Fahrenheit, and clouds covering about half of the surface of the star.