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Collection:
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NASA Spitzer Space Telescope Collection
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Title:
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Birth of an Unusual Planetary System
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Description:
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This artist's animation shows a brown dwarf surrounded by a swirling disk of planet-building dust. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope spotted such a disc around a surprisingly low-mass brown dwarf, or "failed star." The brown dwarf, called OTS 44, is only 15 times the size of Jupiter, making it the smallest brown dwarf known to host a planet-forming, or protoplanetary disk. Astronomers believe that this unusual system will eventually spawn planets. If so, they speculate that OTS 44's disk has enough mass to make one small gas giant and a few Earth-sized rocky planets. OTS 44 is about 2 million years old. At this relatively young age, brown dwarfs are warm and appear reddish in color. With age, they grow cooler and darker.
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Press Release:
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Astronomers Discover Beginnings of 'Mini' Solar System [ http://www.spitzer.…]
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Release Credit:
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NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle (SSC)
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Object type:
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Brown dwarf, protoplanetary disk
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Journal Article:
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Spitzer Identification of the Least Massive Known Brown Dwarf with a Circumstellar Disk [ http://www.spitzer.…]
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Related links:
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Brown Dwarf Discovery Announcement [ http://www.gemini.e…]
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facet_what:
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Spitzer Space Telescope
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facet_what:
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Earth
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facet_what:
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Jupiter
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facet_what:
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Gemini
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facet_what:
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OTS
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facet_where:
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Jupiter
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facet_where:
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Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
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facet_where:
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Stennis Space Center (SSC)
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Image #:
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ssc2005-06v1
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original url:
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http://sscws1.ipac.…
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UID:
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SPD-SPITZ-ssc2005-06 v1
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Image ID:
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168742
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Resolution Size:
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0
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Format:
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JPEG
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Media Type:
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Video
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File Name:
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ssc2005-06v1_qt4_thu mb96.jpg
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Width:
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96
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Height:
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66
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