First Global Map Outside the Solar System

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First Global Map Outside the Solar System

Posted by timothy on Thursday January 30, 2014 @05:43AM from the faked-just-like-the-moon-landings dept.

First time accepted submitter Kreuzfeld writes "For many years, astronomers have suspected that brown dwarfs — 'failed stars' with masses between those of planets and stars — have cloudy atmospheres. Our recent paper in Nature presents the first global, 2D map of the patchy clouds in the atmosphere of a brown dwarf: our neighbor, the 6.5 light-years-distant Luhman 16B. Eventually, astronomers will use this technique to make weather movies of global cloud patterns on brown dwarfs and extrasolar planets."

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How is this a "global map" ? by ReekRend · 2014-01-30 05:54 · Score: 1

How is this a "global map" ? It seems at best to be an "atmospheric" map, which I'm sure is interesting although usually a bunch of clouds that never stop moving.
1. Re:How is this a "global map" ? by geekoid · 2014-01-30 05:56 · Score: 1
  
  the stars are globe shaped.
  
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  The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
Re:Insert by lennier1 · 2014-01-30 06:09 · Score: 1

The red version is much better.
curious orientation by somepunk · 2014-01-30 06:15 · Score: 4, Interesting

The large scale structure seems to stretch between the poles, at fairly constant longitude, rather than around the axis at fairly constant latitude, like every other atmosphere we've encountered. Is there some reason they are really that way, or is it some artifact of the data gathering and rerduction?

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Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do. (Isaac Asimov)
1. Re:curious orientation by Kreuzfeld · 2014-01-30 06:37 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Good question! Atmospheric scientists aren't actually sure yet whether brown dwarfs should have "bands" like we see on Jupiter and other Solar system gas giants (this was discussed at a meeting in Washington, D.C. Jan 2014) -- and our mapping data wasn't quite sensitive enough to definitively answer that question. (We're less sensitive to axisymmetric features than we are to longitudinal variations). The vertical "stretching" of the map's features toward the poles is an unavoidable artifact of our analysis technique. Cloud patterns may be less elongated than they appear!
2. Re:curious orientation by fyngyrz · 2014-01-30 06:49 · Score: 1
  
  The large scale structure seems to stretch between the poles
  That's pretty normal for two testicles as well, you know. Although I'm only familiar with monopole structure.
  
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  I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
3. Re:curious orientation by hackertourist · 2014-01-30 07:38 · Score: 1
  
  Still, congratulations. It's amazing that we've gone from stars visible only as a single pixel to being able to detect surface features.
4. Re:curious orientation by PPH · 2014-01-30 14:36 · Score: 1
  
  It sort of makes sense if you read the way that the atmosphere is being mapped. Using the Doppler shift to detect when a brighter spot is approaching or receding can give some data on the longitude of these spots. The latitude data may be more difficult (but not impossible) to deduce.
  
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  Have gnu, will travel.
Not so different? by Dr.+Zim · 2014-01-30 07:03 · Score: 1

Except for the vast orders of magnitude difference in which speed at which the two move, you're almost correct.

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(name withheld by request)
Old Map... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-01-30 07:15 · Score: 1

This map is 6.5 years old already.
This is why I love slashdot by steamraven · 2014-01-30 11:35 · Score: 1

This is why I love Slashdot: Comments by the scientists involved! Thanks for your hard work guys!
Starcraft by romit_icarus · 2014-01-30 17:15 · Score: 1

Will it be possible to import this map into Starcraft? A DLC, even?
1. Re:Starcraft by Kreuzfeld · 2014-01-30 20:56 · Score: 1
  
  The flat (Mercator-projected) map of Luhman 16B is available here for download. Feel free to import it into whatever program or game you prefer!
Other dwarfs by pyrokey3 · 2014-02-07 17:26 · Score: 1

As there are different types of dwarf planets (such as brown dwarf), what different types are there and how do we differentiate from them?