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Rogue Brown Dwarf Lurks In Our Cosmic Neighborhood

Posted by Soulskill on 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."

3 of 188 comments (clear)

  1. Probably has water by Meshach · · Score: 4, Interesting
    FTA:

    Using the Gemini Observatory, follow-up spectroscopic analysis has detected methane and water vapor in its atmosphere

    I think that the discovery of water is very interesting. And with organic compounds existing there (in the liked article) this could be a very important discovery in our quest to understand the universe.

    --
    "Maybe this world is another planet's hell"
    Aldous Huxley
    1. Re:Probably has water by BJ_Covert_Action · · Score: 4, Interesting
      On top of that,

      It could have a surface temperature as low as 400 Kelvin, even cooler than the team's previous record of slightly below 500 K

      That's only ~127 Celsius, 27 degrees above water's boiling point. That temperature range is far from uninhabitable. Combine the organic compounds with methane and water and a relatively moderate surface temperature and I would say that we have a prime example of one very possible location for life outside of our own solar system. That's pretty damn exciting.

      --
      Motorcycles, Robots, Space Gossip and More!
  2. Re:Hmmm... by chadplusplus · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Well, according to wikipedia, the largest estimates put the Oort cloud out at 3.6 light years, so this brown dwarf is probably too far away to perturb the Oort cloud, but as an aside observation: If the Sun's oort cloud is 3.5 light years in radius, and Proxima Centuari is only 4.2 light years away, and assuming Proxima Centuri has its own oort cloud (if it didn't get swept away by the gravitational interaction of the multiple stars), would our system's outer members and Proxima's outer members intermingle? IIRC, the Oort cloud objects aren't necessarily on the plane on the system.