1. Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 5 Merrion Square, Dublin 2, Ireland
2. Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, INAF, Largo E. Fermi 5, I-50125 Firenze, Italy

Correspondence to: Emma T. Whelan¹ Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to E.T.W. (Email: ewhelan@cp.dias.ie).

Abstract

The birth of stars involves not only accretion but also, counter-intuitively, the expulsion of matter in the form of highly supersonic outflows^{1, 2}. Although this phenomenon has been seen in young stars, a fundamental question is whether it also occurs among newborn brown dwarfs: these are the so-called 'failed stars', with masses between stars and planets, that never manage to reach temperatures high enough for normal hydrogen fusion to occur³. Recently, evidence for accretion in young brown dwarfs has mounted^{4, 5, 6}, and their spectra show lines that are suggestive of outflows^{7, 8, 9}. Here we report spectro-astrometric data that spatially resolve an outflow from a brown dwarf. The outflow's characteristics appear similar to, but on a smaller scale than, outflows from normal young stars. This result suggests that the outflow mechanism is universal, and perhaps relevant even to the formation of planets.

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