杏吧原创

A DIM star in the constellation Corvus is the faintest confirmed brown
dwarf, a group of astronomers claims.

Brown dwarfs are failed stars that did not have enough mass to trigger
nuclear reactions in their cores, but heat up as they shrink under gravity. They
are thought to be rich in lithium.

Observations by Chris Tinney of the Anglo-Australian Observatory in Siding
Spring and his colleagues showed that the dwarf, which is only 0.005 per cent as
bright as the Sun, bears the lithium-rich hallmark.

Tinney, who reported the results at last week鈥檚 annual conference of the
Astronomical Society of Australia, says that studies of the faint brown dwarf
could make others easier to spot. 鈥淣ow we know what we鈥檙e looking for,鈥� he
says.