Rogue Brown Dwarf Lurks In Our Cosmic Neighborhood

Posted by Soulskill on Friday April 9, 2010 @08:20AM from the brown-dwarf-rogue-lurks-in-ironforge dept.

astroengine writes "The UK Infrared Telescope in Hawaii has discovered a lone, cool brown dwarf called UGPSJ0722-05. As far as sub-stellar objects go, this is a strange one. For starters, it's the coolest brown dwarf ever discovered (and astronomers using the UKIRT should know; they are making a habit of finding cool brown dwarfs). Secondly, it's close. In fact, it's the closest brown dwarf to Earth, at a distance of only 10 light years. And thirdly, it has an odd spectroscopic signature, leading astronomers to think that this might be the discovery of a whole new class of brown dwarf."

1 of 188 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

Pretty close... by Notquitecajun · 2010-04-09 08:36 · Score: 4, Informative

This chart http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/extra/nearest.html lists the closest objects to earth. The brown dwarf (being a failed brown dwarf and found recently...howzabout calling it FAIL) is about the 12th closest object to our solar system.