Striped brown dwarf looks a lot like Jupiter (earthsky.org)
Posted by Paul Scott Anderson in Space | January 18, 2021
The surface features of brown dwarfs – objects midway in mass between planets and stars – can’t be seen. But researchers have found a way to reveal Jupiter-like stripes and bands in the atmosphere of the closest brown dwarf, Luhman 16B.
Recently, we showed you a cool new direct image taken of a brown dwarf, an object midway in mass between a planet and a star. But that image doesn’t show the brown dwarf’s surface features. No existing image does. These objects are too far away – and too dim – to reveal themselves in that way. Now, though, a brown dwarf’s surface appearance has been revealed by researchers. The new study indicates bands and stripes in the atmosphere of Luhman 16B – one of two objects in the Luhman 16 binary brown dwarf system – the closest known brown dwarfs to Earth at only 6.5 light-years. Scientists said their new technique for revealing the stripes and bands on Luhman 16B will also be useful someday in mapping surface features on Earth-like planets in distant solar systems. Now that would be something to see!
In our solar system, the gas giant planets Jupiter and Saturn both sport stripes and bands. Scientists had wondered if brown dwarfs had any such stripes. Or would their atmospheres appear more chaotic? Based on the study of Luhman 16B, they believe that at least some brown dwarfs do have banded atmospheres.
As astronomer Daniel Apai at the University of Arizona – lead author of the new study – said in a statement:
We wondered, do brown dwarfs look like Jupiter, with its regular belts and bands shaped by large, parallel, longitudinal jets? Or will they be dominated by an ever-changing pattern of gigantic storms known as vortices like those found on Jupiter’s poles?
The researchers published the peer-reviewed study in The Astrophysical Journal on January 7, 2021.
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more (no direct images, all simulations):https://earthsky.org/space/brown-dwarf-luhman-16b-jupiter-like-stripes?
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