Brown Dwarf/Sub-stellar object Review!
Astronomers concluded that something else was out there, something extremely massive with an incredibly strong gravitational pull, perturbing the
outer planets of the solar system. Astronomers labeled this unknown object as Planet X. (X) Simply stands for “Unknown” The ancient civilizations
also misinterpreted this object to be a planet or comet having zero knowledge of what a brown dwarf is. Astronomers have since started looking at the
possibility of it being a “Dark Star’. Due to it’s incredible gravitational affect it’s demonstrating on the outer planets. There is an
ongoing debate on whether or not low mass brown dwarfs should be classified as giant gas planets or failed stars.
In 1972 the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy in Leningrad used the perturbations in the orbit of known comets to help calculate this object. In the
same year, astronomers at the Livermore Radiation Laboratory in California used the perturbations in the orbit of Halley’s comet and two other
objects to also mathematically demonstrate the existence of this massive and mysterious object traveling outside the visible solar system.
By the late 1970’s, most astronomers had
enough theoretical and mathematical evidence to be convinced that something was out there. Most
astronomers then concluded the only thing left to do is identify this dark, mysterious object and determine its exact orbital track. Focus then
changed to finding where this object was going/headed and when. Then in the early 1980’s the search for this mysterious object strangely escalated
in intensity at NASA and other governmental institutions. In 1981 the following statement was made“Astronomers readying telescopes to probe the
outer reaches of our solar system”
Dr. Tom Van Flandern of the US Naval Observatory states
this objects path is highly elliptical like that of a comet. Throughout the early
1980’s NASA searched desperately for this object but could not find it even though they had powerful light gathering telescopes pointed in it’s
general direction due to the object not emitting any visible light. On January 30th 1983 an article from New York Times states:
“Something out there beyond the farthest reaches of the known solar system seems to be tugging at Uranus and Neptune. Some giant
gravitational force keeps perturbing the two giant planets, causing irregularities in their orbits. The force suggests a presence that’s far
away and unseen, a large celestial object that may be the long sought Planet X.”
Later that same year in 1983 NASA’s newly launched IRAS (Infrared Astronomical Satellite) spotted a large, dark, mysterious object coming towards us
from the depths of space. Their discovery was mentioned in a 1983 Washington Post interview with the chief IRAS scientist from JPL in California. Dr.
Gerry Neugebauer. The article states:
”A heavenly body possibly as large as the giant planet Jupiter and possibly so close to earth that it would be part of this solar system has
been found in the direction of the constellation Orion, by an orbiting telescope (IRAS) So Mysterious is this object that astronomers do not know
it if is a planet, a giant comet, or a nearby proto-star (dwarf star) that never got hot enough to become a star.”
Brown Dwarfs!
Currently there is some debate as to what criterion to use to define the separation between a brown dwarf from a giant planet at very low brown dwarf
masses (~13 MJ ), and whether brown dwarfs are required to have experienced fusion at some point in their history.
As read there are many different classifications of brown dwarfs and an ongoing debate on whether some of them with low mass should be classified as
brown dwarfs or giant gas planets like Jupiter.
A remarkable property of brown dwarfs is that they are all roughly the same radius as Jupiter. This can make distinguishing them from planets
difficult.
Brown dwarfs are all about the same radius; so anything that size with over 10 Jupiter masses is unlikely to be a planet.
Smallest brown dwarf found:
Smallest Cha 110913-773444 L 11h09m13.63s -77°34'44.6" Chamaeleon Distance: 163ly (50pc), 1.8 RJupiter
Take a look at this chart for size range:
abyss.uoregon.edu...
Appearance at close range:
news.cnet.com...
Brown dwarfs highly unpredictable/irregular orbital patterns of stars and free-floating capabilities!
Brown dwarfs close to Earth include Epsilon Indi Ba and Bb, a pair of dwarfs gravitationally bound to a sunlike star, around 12 light-years from the
Sun.
Tight Orbit of two objects challenges convention:
Astronomers have imaged a pair of objects orbiting each other at just three times the distance from Earth to the Sun, the closest separation ever
directly observed between objects outside our solar system. One of the objects is a low-mass star, and the other is a failed star known as a brown
dwarf.
The previous record for direct image of tight-orbiting objects involved a brown dwarf 14 times the Earth-Sun distance.
Since 1995, astronomers have been able to detect objects at similar and even tighter orbital groupings, in some cases even large planets around other
stars. But that detection method is indirect, noting a gravitational wobble in the larger object induced by the smaller one.
Full article:
www.space.com...
Orbital patterns and free-floating capabilities.
But starting in 1995, discoveries of huge planets around other stars, plus new objects that are neither planet nor star, have forced the IAU to draw
some distinctions. The movement gained momentum in recent weeks with the announcement of free-floating objects in space that look like planets.
Exoplanets and brown dwarfs
Since the first planet was discovered orbiting another star in 1995, more than 50 extrasolar planets, or exoplanets, have been found. These planets
are nothing like what we're used to. They are huge -- often many times the mass of Jupiter -- and some are altogether more like another class of
object, the brown dwarf.
Full article:
www.space.com...
As you can see some brown dwarfs orbit stars and in unpredictable/irregular orbital patterns, some on highly elliptical orbits, some freely traveling
through space coming in and out of areas sometimes taking on new orbital patterns and others tightly orbiting objects and other stars indefinitely.
Now I can only give you information that you can verify but if I was to tell you more about the brown dwarf that has not yet been confirmed I assume
you would quickly dismiss it. What I can tell you and what we clearly see is that astronomers still know very little about brown dwarfs with only the
first one officially confirmed recently in 1995. New discoveries on these objects are continually being made and astronomical discoveries of this
object will continue for years to come as there are many more things yet unknown/undiscovered.
Brown dwarfs orbit in highly elliptical/irregular orbital patterns and are rogue celestial/sub-stellar objects that can also travel freely through
space.
A few examples of brown dwarfs orbital patterns around stars:
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www.darkstar1.co.uk...
www.darkstar1.co.uk...
www.greatdreams.com...
www.space.com...
Orbital patterns and free-floating capabilities.
But starting in 1995, discoveries of huge planets around other stars, plus new objects that are neither planet nor star, have forced the IAU to draw
some distinctions. The movement gained momentum in recent weeks with the announcement of free-floating objects in space that look like planets.
For many years, efforts to discover brown dwarfs were frustrating and searches to find them seemed fruitless. In 1988, however, University of
California, Los Angeles professors Eric Becklin and Ben Zuckerman identified a faint companion to GD 165 in an infrared search of white dwarfs.
Brown dwarfs are hard to find in the sky, as they would emit almost no light. Their strongest emissions would be in the infrared (IR) spectrum,
and ground-based IR detectors were too imprecise at that time to readily identify any brown dwarfs.
1995: First brown dwarf verified. Teide 1, an M8 object in the Pleiades cluster, is picked out with a CCD in the Spanish Observatory of Roque de los
Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias.
Over all source for much of the information:
en.wikipedia.org...