Brown Dwarf-Companion, or Neither?

[Robert_Stephens]

Mystery Object Neither Star Nor Brown Dwarf | Gemini Observatory

This is quite compelling as they are still connected, yet, defy most definitions for same.

Robert

 

[syrenn]

Very cool.

 

[westwall]

Interesting object. I see in the abstract that it emits radiation at both poles, could this be the remnant of a gamma ray burster or some sort?

 

[American Horse]

Mystery Object Neither Star Nor Brown Dwarf | Gemini Observatory

This is quite compelling as they are still connected, yet, defy most definitions for same.

Robert

Interesting in part because of how small and so difficult it would be to detect at these interstellar distances; is this discovery process what might be called "astronomical archaeology" Robert?

Instances like this one have fascinated me in recent years, as detectives in the field of astronomy uncover the origins of these exotic objects.

Thanks for sharing Robert.

 

[Robert_Stephens]

Interesting object. I see in the abstract that it emits radiation at both poles, could this be the remnant of a gamma ray burster or some sort?

Yes, it could. Since when these events happen in space, the exchange of all spectra, as each struggle for dependence, happens between both, regardless of how dominant one is over the other for mass, gravity, and emission data. You are correct.

Robert

 

[Robert_Stephens]

Mystery Object Neither Star Nor Brown Dwarf | Gemini Observatory

This is quite compelling as they are still connected, yet, defy most definitions for same.

Robert

Interesting in part because of how small and so difficult it would be to detect at these interstellar distances; is this discovery process what might be called "astronomical archaeology" Robert?

Instances like this one have fascinated me in recent years, as detectives in the field of astronomy uncover the origins of these exotic objects.

Thanks for sharing Robert.

You are most welcome and it is fascinating. Yes, it is just that, a form of space Archaeology indeed without a human interface. More like cosmology archaeology. The revelations continue to mount in discovery. Love it.

Robert

 

[CrusaderFrank]

"Unable to sustain nuclear fusion at its core and doomed to orbit with its much more energetic white dwarf partner for millions of years, the dead star is essentially a new, indeterminate type of stellar object."

Unable to stand on its own?

Orbiting its much brighter neighbor?

Why, it's the USMB Liberal Poster Star!

 

[waltky]

Staring into the past...

Hubble Reveals Primitive Galaxies Near Cosmic Dawn
December 12, 2012 WASHINGTON — Astronomers have used NASA's Earth orbiting Hubble Space Telescope to reveal primitive galaxies -- vast clusters of stars -- that are more than 13 billion years old. One of them might be the oldest ever observed.

DIGGING INTO THE PAST

Here on Earth, when researchers study the dawn of civilization, they often rely on findings from archeological digs. Astronomers describe a different kind of dig when they study the dawn of the cosmos. A team of scientists used NASA's Hubble Space Telescope for a cosmic "dig" of sorts, peering even deeper into the universe, looking, in effect, even further back in time. They discovered seven previously unseen galaxies that formed more than 13 billion years ago, not that long in cosmic time, after the birth of the universe.

Hubble's new images show a dense scattering of bright specks, slashes and swirls of reds, yellows and violets against the backdrop of black space. "These are baby pictures of the universe," John Grunsfeld of NASA's Science Mission Directorate told reporters during a NASA teleconference Wednesday. "It's back to the fundamental origin story. We're always wondering, 'Where did we come from and where are we going?' And Hubble is providing answers to both those questions."

ORIGINS OF THE UNIVERSE

To understand where we came from requires a brief review of the generally accepted theory about the evolution of the cosmos. Nearly 14 billion years ago, the universe began with the so-called Big Bang, and about 400,000 years after that, the element hydrogen formed. California Institute of Technology astrophysicist Richard Ellis, who led the team that discovered these oldest-ever-seen galaxies, describes the timeline from there. "The universe was, at that time, very dark. There were no stars or galaxies. Those hydrogen clouds eventually clumped under gravity and collapsed and cooled and ignited the very first generation of stars and galaxies, and it's this moment we call 'cosmic dawn,'" explained Ellis. "We think it happened 200 million years after the Big Bang, and it was a very important moment in cosmic history."

COSMIC DAWN

Ellis' team used Hubble to take the first census of galaxies born during that so-called "cosmic dawn." The astronomers studied a patch of sky for more than 100 hours during a six-week period in August and September. They were looking for galaxies that formed 350 million to 600 million years after the Big Bang. They took the first census of this era in cosmic history and found a galaxy that is potentially the oldest ever observed. Ellis' team says the cosmic dawn was likely not a dramatic event, but a gradual process. NASA's Grunsfeld describes the cosmic dawn as the period when "the universe emerged from the dark ages."

'THE BEGINNING OF EVERYTHING'

See also:

Mystery Properties of Black Holes Revealed
December 12th, 2012 - Of all the celestial objects that make up the Universe, nothing is more mysterious than the black hole.

Now Denmark scientists have come up with what they say are groundbreaking theories that explain several properties of the enigmatic black hole. The scientists’ research indicates black holes have properties similar to the dynamics of both solids and liquids. What’s generally known about black holes is that they’re extremely compact –some are as small as less than .01 mm– and that they can generate a gravitational pull so powerful that anything and everything that comes near them is swallowed up, including light.

We’re not able to see these cosmic vacuum cleaners because any light that does hit them is absorbed rather than being reflected. Black holes were predicted by Einstein’s general theory of relativity but scientists haven’t been able to determine their properties. “Black holes are not completely black, because we know that they emit radiation and there are indications that the radiation is thermal, i.e. it has a temperature,” explains Niels Obers, a professor at the University of Copenhagen.

An artist’s drawing shows a large black hole pulling gas away from a nearby star. (NASA)

Obers says one can view black holes like particles. Since, in principle, a particle has no dimensions, it is merely a point. But, if a particle is given an extra dimension –such as a straight line– it then becomes a string. And if you give the string yet an additional dimension, it becomes a plane. Physicists refer to one of these planes as a ‘brane’, similar to the biological term, ‘membrane’. “In string theory, you can have different branes, including planes that behave like black holes, which we call black branes,” Obers says. “The black branes are thermal, that is to say, they have a temperature and are dynamical objects. When black branes are folded into multiple dimensions, they form a ‘blackfold’.”

Obers and his colleagues say they’ve been able to develop their new theories on the physics of black holes based on the principals of these black branes and blackfolds. “The black branes are hydro-dynamic objects, that is to say that they have the properties of a liquid,” says Jay Armas, who also worked on the project. “We have now discovered that black branes also have properties which can be explained in terms of solids. They can behave like elastic material when we bend them.” “With these new theories, we expect to be able to explain other black hole phenomena, and we expect to be able to better understand the physical properties of neutron stars,” said Obers.

Source

 

[Mr. H.]

Where did Bobbie Steve go?

 

[westwall]

Where did Bobbie Steve go?

He got his self banned.

 

[OohPooPahDoo]

Mystery Object Neither Star Nor Brown Dwarf | Gemini Observatory

This is quite compelling as they are still connected, yet, defy most definitions for same.

Robert

Wow. This is pretty cool.

THe group I work for mainly studies double white dwarf stars, but single-degenerate binaries such as this one are also very interesting to us. I never even considered this possibility but it certainly follows from the basics of binary stars - if the donor star has an inverse mass-radius relationship, then when it loses mass to the accretor it becomes less dense. If it becomes less dense enough - thermonuclear burning can "turn off".

 

[westwall]

Mystery Object Neither Star Nor Brown Dwarf | Gemini Observatory

This is quite compelling as they are still connected, yet, defy most definitions for same.

Robert

Wow. This is pretty cool.

THe group I work for mainly studies double white dwarf stars, but single-degenerate binaries such as this one are also very interesting to us. I never even considered this possibility but it certainly follows from the basics of binary stars - if the donor star has an inverse mass-radius relationship, then when it loses mass to the accretor it becomes less dense. If it becomes less dense enough - thermonuclear burning can "turn off".

Seems pretty straightforward to me. A gas giant like Jupiter isn't nearly dense enough to light the fire so to speak, so it makes sense that a star that loses enough mass will likewise shut down.