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Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Y Dwarf Star As Cool As The Human Body

y dwarf star
Y dwarf (green) cover by WISE (NASA)
Scientists have managed to get data about the dwarfs Y. Research conducted for more than a decade finally paid off. This dwarf star they named as the Y dwarfs. Thanks to NASA through the WISE project, the star was successfully observed. WISE uses infrared light which is very sensitive and it is a distinct advantage for scientists.

Star Y is considered as a failed star. Because its mass is too small to create fusion reactions in order to become a real star. As a result of this star is only capable of emitting light with a wavelength of infrared. Light that can not be seen by human eyes.

brown dwarf family
 Brown dwarf family (NASA)

Star Y is one of a family of brown dwarfs. In contrast to other brown dwarfs, star of Y is the most difficult to observe. Because the temperature of this star is similar to the human body temperature. Even able to lower than room temperature. Michael Cushing, a member of WISE team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., is lead author of a paper describing the Y in the Astrophysical Journal dwarf. To definitively confirm Them, the WISE team used some of the most powerful telescopes on Earth to split apart the objects' light and look for telltale molecular signatures of water, methane and possibly ammonia. For the very coldest of the new Y dwarfs, the team used NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. The Y dwarfs Identified were the resource persons based on a change in these spectral features compared to other brown dwarfs, Indicating They have a lower atmospheric temperature. The ground-based telescopes used in these studies include the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility atop Mauna Kea, Hawaii; Caltech's Palomar Observatory near San Diego; the WM Keck Observatory atop Mauna Kea, Hawaii; and the Magellan Telescopes at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile, Among others.

The success of these scientists capture the Y dwarfs is an important step. For scientists studying the formation of stars is by studying the brown dwarf. And Y dwarfs may be a new source for scientists in studying the process of star formation.

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