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Space & Astronomy

Cool brown dwarf star discovered

By T.K. Randall
October 23, 2011 · Comment icon 11 comments

Image Credit: NASA
A star so cold that you could go for a walk on it has been found by the Spitzer space telescope.
Stars are usually extremely hot, but this particular brown dwarf is so cool that a human could walk around on its surface and experience temperatures not much warmer than an average summer's day. "This planet-like companion is the coldest object ever directly photographed outside our solar system," said Professor Kevin Luhman.
The Spitzer Space Telescope has captured images of the coldest companion object to be directly imaged outside our solar system, U. S. scientists say.


Source: UPI | Comments (11)

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Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #2 Posted by DeltaEcho 13 years ago
I suppose the universe is filled with weird stuff. Quite amazing, actually.
Comment icon #3 Posted by AsatroGubbe 13 years ago
Cool brown dwarf eh? Sounds like my ex-wife. Seriously tho', the spitzer is the latest greatest telescope we have yet put in space. I hope we see many exellent images in future.
Comment icon #4 Posted by SewerRat 13 years ago
6 to 9 times the mass of Jupiter? I'm guessing you wouldn't want to take a walk on it then. Gravity would be crushingly high. And it won't have a normal surface if its a gas giant - if it does have a solid core that will probably be thousands of degrees.
Comment icon #5 Posted by SomeguyUK 13 years ago
Wasnt to long ago that they thought the universe was to young for any brown drawf stars to exist. Apparently they will be some of the last objects in the universe Also just because something is big doesn't mean it's gravity will be strong. That's down to density.
Comment icon #6 Posted by Mentalcase 13 years ago
Wasnt to long ago that they thought the universe was to young for any brown drawf stars to exist. Apparently they will be some of the last objects in the universe Also just because something is big doesn't mean it's gravity will be strong. That's down to density. Very true! This discovery is so amazing!!!!
Comment icon #7 Posted by Rlyeh 13 years ago
Wasnt to long ago that they thought the universe was to young for any brown drawf stars to exist. Apparently they will be some of the last objects in the universe That doesn't make sense.Also just because something is big doesn't mean it's gravity will be strong. That's down to density. Gravity is from mass, this object has 6 to 9 times the mass of Jupiter.
Comment icon #8 Posted by Dom3434 13 years ago
very cool!!!
Comment icon #9 Posted by StoneSmasher 13 years ago
Gravity is from mass, this object has 6 to 9 times the mass of Jupiter. Mass and distance. Do you think you feel the full effect of Jupiter's gravity here on earth? Of course not, you are far from it. Same for a planet or star. The gravity you feel on the surface is a function of mass and distance. The density of the object directly relates to the distance from the center of gravity.
Comment icon #10 Posted by Rlyeh 13 years ago
Mass and distance. Do you think you feel the full effect of Jupiter's gravity here on earth? Of course not, you are far from it. Same for a planet or star.I much sooner you show me where I made such a ridiculous statement.The gravity you feel on the surface is a function of mass and distance. The density of the object directly relates to the distance from the center of gravity.Density is the compactness of a substance.
Comment icon #11 Posted by Robbie333 13 years ago
A star so cold that you could go for a walk on it has been found by the Spitzer space telescope. Very cool. Even though we are living in pretty bad times our tech affords us some great glimpes of the universe and our world.
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