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