Rethinking Oddball Brown Dwarfs

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Produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Office of Public Outreach in collaboration with NASA’s Universe of Learning partners: Caltech/IPAC, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
 
Video imagery:

  • Illustration, relative sizes of the Sun, a low-mass star, a brown dwarf, Jupiter, and the Earth: Jupiter: NASA, ESA, and A. Simon (NASA, GSFC); Sun and Low-Mass Star: NASA, SDO; Brown Dwarf: NASA, ESA, and JPL-Caltech; Earth: NASA; Infographic: NASA and E. Wheatley (STScI).
  • Brown dwarf animation: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
  • Brown dwarf ISO-Oph 102 in the Rho Ophiuchi star-forming region: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/Digitized Sky Survey 2. Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin

Writer: Leah Ramsay
Designer: Leah Hustak
Science review: Dr. Alexandra Lockwood
Education review: Jim Manning
Music from Music for Non-Profits

Transcript


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Various pictures of space. planets, stars, constellations
 
Text, News from the Universe.
 
Text, September 16, 2021, Rethinking Oddball Brown Dwarfs. A diagram, the Sun to the far left, a smaller orb labeled Low-Mass Star. Next to the Low-Mass Star, an even smaller orb labeled Brown Dwarf.
 
Text box, a brown dwarf nicknamed "the Accident" has defied scientist expectations and is leading to a rethinking of these cosmic oddballs.
 
Next to Brown Dwarf, a smaller orb labeled Jupiter.
 
Text box, Brown dwarfs are a middle-ground type of cosmic object between gas giant planets like Jupiter and stars like the Sun.
 
A blank screen. A red striped spinning orb slowly moves closer to the viewer. Text box, In some wavelengths of light the puzzling "accident" brown dwarf appeared warm and bright, in others cold and old.
 
Text box, Scientists think the strange properties indicate the brown dwarf's advanced age, at least double the average age of other known brown dwarfs
 
Stars on a blank sky, two larger stars twinkle amongst the rest
 
Text box, Now scientists think there may be more variety, and a greater number, of brown dwarfs than they thought, and creative methods are needed to find them.
 
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Text box, This news was brought to you in part by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California