Science!
Astronomers announced Wednesday that a decades-long mystery surrounding
the first known brown dwarf — a “failed star” called Gliese 229B — has finally been solved.
Brown dwarfs are dim, celestial objects that are between the size of a planet like Jupiter and a small star.
In 1995, Caltech researchers
first discovered Gliese 229B, which orbits the red dwarf star Gliese 229 about 18 light-years away from Earth.
Since then, scientists have found more than a couple thousand brown dwarfs, and research in 2017 suggests
there could be 100 billion throughout the Milky Way.
Gliese 229B confused scientists because the orb was deemed too dim for its size, as it weighs about 70 times more than Jupiter but doesn’t shine that bright.
The reason for this, astronomers now say, is that the brown dwarf is actually one of two. Weighing around 38 and 34 times
the mass of Jupiter, respectively, these brown dwarfs whirl around each other in a cycle every 12 days.
Their brightness now matches what is expected for two brown dwarfs of this size, researchers say.……
https://www.independent.co.uk/space/brown-dwarf-mystery-astronomers-solved-b2630272.html