The James Webb Space Telescope Has Discovered the Smallest "Failed Star"
The James Webb Space Telescope managed to capture the smallest brown dwarf traveling through space. The star's mass is only three to four times that of Jupiter, making this dwarf the smallest object of its kind known to humanity.
This information is reported by Space.
The cluster, named IC 348 by astronomers, is located approximately 1,000 light-years from Earth. After the object's discovery, scientists were astonished because the gas cloud in the stellar cluster, which has weak gravity, couldn't have formed it.
According to researchers, the brown dwarf couldn't have formed in the same way as a planet, i.e., from the protoplanetary disk around its star.
It is expected that the new image from the Webb telescope will help better understand the differences between planets and stars.
It is worth noting that stars are born from a dense clump in a cosmic cloud of gas and dust, which collapsed under the influence of gravity. Over time, its mass starts to grow until the pressure and heat in the star's core cause an explosion, leading to a flash and, subsequently, hydrogen synthesis. For this, the star's mass must exceed that of Jupiter by at least 80-85 times.
Simultaneously, a 'failed' brown dwarf forms similarly, but it doesn't accumulate enough mass for hydrogen synthesis. Scientists indicate that the color in its name signifies that such cosmic objects are smaller than stars—white dwarfs—and larger than non-illuminated dark planets.
Recall that The Gaze reported that researchers from the University of Chicago had discovered an 'ideal' Solar System that, unlike ours, was created without powerful cosmic collisions and remained nearly unchanged since its formation 12 billion years ago.
The system, named 'HD110067,' is located 100 light-years from our Solar System. The stable and unchanging conditions of the new system make it an ideal place for studying how these worlds formed and whether there is life in them.
Earlier, it was also revealed that scientists, using the Webb Space Telescope, studied the exoplanet Hycean K2-18b. The results showed signs of carbon-based molecules in the atmosphere of a potential 'oceanic world.' Additionally, traces of carbon dioxide and methane were found on the planet, indicating the potential presence of water in the planet's atmosphere.