JWST identifies tiniest free-floating brown dwarf
CEHW Professor Kevin Luhman led a study identifying the new record-holder for the smallest object that forms like a star: a tiny, free-floating brown dwarf with only three to four times the mass of Jupiter.
This image from the near-infrared camera (NIRCam) instrument on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows the central portion of the star cluster IC 348. Astronomers combed the cluster in search of tiny, free-floating brown dwarfs: objects too small to be stars but larger than most planets. They found three brown dwarfs that are less than eight times the mass of Jupiter, which are circled in the main image and shown in the detailed pullouts at right. The smallest weighs just three to four times Jupiter, challenging theories for star formation. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Kevin Luhman/Penn State, Catarina Alves de Oliveira/ESA. All Rights Reserved.
