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  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

Planet or failed star? A mysterious object blurs the line

A body classified as an exoplanet has been shown to nurture thermonuclear fusion of heavy hydrogen — a trait of objects called brown dwarfs.
Speculative illustration of a brown dwarf side-lit by a nearby star.

A brown dwarf (artist’s impression). A newfound cosmic body sits squarely on the boundary between a large planet and a brown dwarf. Walter Myers/SPL

A newly discovered massive planet could help astronomers to distinguish these objects from brown dwarfs — celestial bodies sometimes described as ‘failed stars’1.

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Nature 615, 564 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00749-z

References

  1. Hinkley, S. et al. Astron. Astrophys. 671, L5 (2023).

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