Turbulent skies of nearby 'failed star' marked by thick cloud bands
By Mike Wall 5 hours ago
Just like Jupiter.
Artist’s illustration of the brown dwarf Luhman 16A. Astronomers have inferred the presence of
cloud bands on Luhman 16A using a technique called polarimetry, in which polarized light is
measured from an astrophysical object much like polarized sunglasses are used to block out
glare. This is the first time that polarimetry has been used to measure cloud patterns on a brown
dwarf. (Image: © Caltech/R. Hurt (IPAC))
Bold banding may be a common feature of brown dwarf skies.
Scientists have spotted evidence of Jupiter-like stripes in the thick atmosphere of a nearby brown dwarf, a new study reports — and this evidence was gathered in a novel way.
Brown dwarfs are bigger than planets but not big enough to host fusion reactions in their interiors. For this reason, these curious objects are also known as "failed stars."
NASA's recently retired Spitzer Space Telescope previously detected banding patterns on multiple brown dwarfs, by tracking in detail how the objects' brightness varied over time. But in this new study, scientists inferred banding via polarimetry, the measurement of polarized light.
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