Scientists have proved that an ultra-cold brown dwarf discovered more than 10 years ago emits radio pulses. Scientists do not fully understand how this radiation arises inside it.
Ultra-cold brown dwarf
A group of Australian astronomers using the Australia Telescope Compact Array and MeerKAT radio telescopes prove that radio signals come from the brown dwarf WISE J062309.94-045624.6. The peculiarity of the discovery is that this tiny star is the coldest from which signals are received at this wavelength.
The surface temperature of WISE J062309.94-045624.6 is only 425°C, since it belongs to the spectral class T8. This is less than the flame of a campfire. For comparison, the temperature on the surface of our sun is almost 6000°C.
This brown dwarf was discovered back in 2011. It is located 37 light-years away from us. Its radius ranges from 65 to 95 percent of Jupiter’s, and its mass is only 44 percent more than the largest planet in the solar system.
How radiation occurs
Brown dwarfs occupy an intermediate position between gas giants and ordinary stars. However, if we still consider them to be luminaries, then WISE J062309.94-045624.6 will be the coldest similar object from which the radiation of radio waves is registered.
Scientists know well how it occurs in stars like our Sun. However, such a mechanism is excluded for cold brown dwarfs, which do not undergo thermonuclear reactions. Nevertheless, approximately 10 percent of these objects emit radio waves.
According to experts, this happens when charges are constantly moving inside them. The most likely scenario assumes a situation in which the charged layer of the atmosphere rotates at a speed different from the one with which the celestial body does it.
According to phys.org
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