• Scientists have identified a record-breaking brown dwarf, which possesses the ‘purest’ composition that is about 90 times as massive as the planet Jupiter, located 750 light years away in the outermost reaches of our galaxy.

More Details:

• Brown dwarfs are intermediate between planets and fully-fledged stars.
• The mass of brown dwarfs is too small for full nuclear fusion of hydrogen to helium (with a consequent release of energy) to take place, but they are usually significantly more massive than planets.
• The object, known as SDSS J0104+1535, is located 750 light years away in the constellation of Pisces.
• It is made of gas that is around 250 times purer than the Sun, hence consists of more than 99.99% hydrogen and helium.
• Estimated to have formed about 10 billion years ago, measurements also suggest that it has a mass equivalent to 90 times that of Jupiter, making it the most massive brown dwarf found to date.
• It was previously not known if brown dwarfs could form from such primordial gas, and the discovery points the way to a larger undiscovered population of extremely pure brown dwarfs from our Galaxy’s ancient past.

Ultra-subdwarf

• The researchers have classified SDSS J0104+1535 as an L-type ultra-subdwarf using its optical and near-infrared spectrum, which has been measured using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT).

Source: The Hindu