Discovered that the brown dwarf closest to Earth contains the dust disk

Astronomers have announced the discovery of a brown dwarf star 332 light-years from Earth that could support planet formation.

Brown dwarfs are referred to as "hybrids" in space when there is a mass between the largest planet and the lightest star, which means they are too heavy to be considered a gas giant but not big enough. create fusion reactions inside the core like a real star.

Like gas planets and stars, some young brown dwarfs may also contain rings or disks of dust - matter left over from their initial formation. This is where new planets can spawn through collisions and material accumulation.

During the 236th annual meeting of the American Astronomical Association this week, experts from NASA led by Oklahoma University alumni Maria Schutte announced the new discovery of a brown dwarf star from the Left. The earth is only 332 light-years away surrounded by a dense disk of dust and gas.

Graphic simulating brown dwarf W1200-7845. (Image: NASA / William Pendril).

The planet, named W1200-7845, is estimated to be only 3.7 million years old, making it the youngest brown dwarf in the solar system's vicinity. The discovery is part of NASA's "Disk Detective" project , which seeks new disks of matter in the universe through optical and infrared observations.

In the next phase, the team plans to use the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile to enlarge the W1200-7845 image to measure the mass and radius of the dust disk.

"Disk mass can reveal how much stuff is inside, letting us know whether new planets can form in this system and what kind of planets can be created," says Steven Silverberg, Study co-authors explain. "This is a great place to look for exoplanets."