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NASA Discovers 7th Closest Star

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the practically-in-my-back-yard dept.

Thorfinn.au says "Scientists using data from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) have discovered the coldest class of star-like bodies, with temperatures as cool as the human body. Astronomers hunted these dark orbs, termed Y dwarfs, for more than a decade without success. When viewed with a visible-light telescope, they are nearly impossible to see. WISE's infrared vision allowed the telescope to finally spot the faint glow of six Y dwarfs relatively close to our sun, within a distance of about 40 light-years. 'WISE scanned the entire sky for these and other objects, and was able to spot their feeble light with its highly sensitive infrared vision,' said Jon Morse, Astrophysics Division director at NASA Headquarters in Washington. 'They are 5,000 times brighter at the longer infrared wavelengths WISE observed from space than those observable from the ground.'"

3 of 137 comments (clear)

  1. Ninja stars by tverbeek · · Score: 5, Funny

    40 lightyears! I hereby dub these "ninja stars", for their ability to sneak up on us like this.

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  2. Telescope? by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'm not sure that NASA is taking the most efficient path here: If you want to discover cold, distant objects, any marriage counselor who is a bit flexible about confidentiality should be able to provide you with dozens of them, without any of the trouble of sophisticated infrared astronomy...

  3. More like the ex-wife star by macwhizkid · · Score: 4, Funny

    Closer than you're comfortable with, and colder than you can possibly imagine.