NEW YORK: A celestial object discovered decades ago is actually twins orbiting each other, a new study confirms.
Scientists are baffled by the object known as Gliese 229B, the first known brown dwarf discovered 30 years ago. Brown dwarfs are sometimes called failed stars because they are lighter than stars but heavier than gas giant planets.
This object seemed too faint for its mass. Astronomers collected chemical and light clues using the Very Large Telescope in Chile and observed that it is a duo circling close to each other.
“It resolves a glaring discrepancy,” said Kevin Luhman, an astronomer at Pennsylvania State University who was not involved in the research.
The twins orbit a small star about 18 light years away. One light year is equivalent to 5.8 trillion miles.
Astronomers have seen pairs of brown dwarfs before, but these two move at a much closer distance. They orbit each other every 12 days, less than the time it takes the Moon to orbit the Earth.
“It shows how strange the universe is and how different solar systems are from our own,” said study co-author Rebecca Oppenheimer of the American Museum of Natural History.
The research was published Wednesday in the journal Nature.
The discovery of the twins means there could be other brown dwarfs lurking with a hidden partner, said co-author Jerry Xuan of the California Institute of Technology.
(This story is not edited by Republic and is published from a syndicated feed)
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