February 18, 2003
(PLANETQUEST) -- Researchers at the University of Arizona have released new images of the tightest-orbiting brown dwarf ever observed. A brown dwarf is a would-be star that is too small to ignite, resulting in an object that is neither a star nor a planet, but resides somewhere in between.
The brown dwarf companion to the low mass star LHS 2397a was imaged in the near-infrared using the adaptive optics system on the Gemini North telescope. This binary system represents the first clear example of a brown dwarf within four astronomical units of its parent star (one astronomical unit is the distance between the Earth and the Sun). This corresponds to a smaller distance than the orbit of Jupiter around the Sun. The system is about 50 light-years from our Sun.
The finding provides a new perspective on the formation of stellar systems and how smaller bodies in the Universe, including large planets, might form, according to the researchers.
The images were obtained using adaptive optics, a technology that eliminates most of the "blurring" caused by the turbulence in the Earth's atmosphere by rapidly adjusting the shape of a special, smaller flexible mirror to match local turbulence.
The Gemini Observatory is an international collaboration that has built two identical 8-meter telescopes, one at Mauna Kea, Hawaii (Gemini North), and a second at Cerro Pach�n in central Chile (Gemini South).
