Brown dwarf OTS 44 with disc

Autor:

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Shortlink:

https://czwiki.cz/b/da9c1

Zdroj:

Wikimedia Commons

Formát:

3000 x 2400 Pixel (2691381 Bytes)

Popis:

This artist's animation shows a brown dwarf surrounded by a swirling disc of planet-building dust. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope spotted such a disc around a surprisingly low-mass brown dwarf, or "failed star." The brown dwarf, called OTS 44, is only 15 times the size of Jupiter, making it the smallest brown dwarf known to host a planet-forming, or protoplanetary disc.

Astronomers believe that this unusual system will eventually spawn planets. If so, they speculate that OTS 44's disc has enough mass to make one small gas giant and a few Earth-sized rocky planets.

OTS 44 is about 2 million years old. At this relatively young age, brown dwarfs are warm and appear reddish in color. With age, they grow cooler and darker.

Licence:

Public domain

Credit:

https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA07335

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