Quarks to Quasars

‘Failed Star’ Radio Emissions Could Aid Hunt for Alien Life Brown dwarfs are often viewed as stellar underachievers. They’re nicknamed “failed stars,” “sub-stellar objects” or, simply, “substars.” While they may be too small to be known as stars — they cannot sustain nuclear fusion in their cores for long, except for the largest brown dwarfs that have the gravitational clout to fuse deuterium and lithium — they are also too big to be called planets.* They are in a class of their own; so rather than being the proverbial runt of the stellar litter, they are wonderfully interesting objects that form a mysterious bridge between the planets and stars. Now, using the awesome power of the 305-meter (1000-ft) Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico, astronomers have revealed yet another puzzle that only amplifies the mystery surrounding these enigmatic objects.

‘Failed Star’ Radio Emissions Could Aid Hunt for Alien Life

Brown dwarfs are often viewed as stellar underachievers. They’re nicknamed “failed stars,” “sub-stellar objects” or, simply, “substars.”

While they may be too small to be known as stars — they cannot sustain nuclear fusion in their cores for long, except for the largest brown dwarfs that have the gravitational clout to fuse deuterium and lithium — they are also too big to be called planets.*

They are in a class of their own; so rather than being the proverbial runt of the stellar litter, they are wonderfully interesting objects that form a mysterious bridge between the planets and stars.

Now, using the awesome power of the 305-meter (1000-ft) Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico, astronomers have revealed yet another puzzle that only amplifies the mystery surrounding these enigmatic objects.

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Posted on Wednesday, 2 May
Tagged as: Astronomy   Science   Space   Failed Star   Alien Life  
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