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OTS 44, Brown Dwarf, Birth of an Unusual Planetary System

Artist Concept. Shows a brown dwarf surrounded by a swirling disc 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 disc. Astronomers believe that this unusual system will eventually spawn planets. If so, they speculate that OTS 44's disc 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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Title: OTS 44, Brown Dwarf, Birth of an Unusual Planetary System

Caption: Artist Concept. Shows a brown dwarf surrounded by a swirling disc 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 disc. Astronomers believe that this unusual system will eventually spawn planets. If so, they speculate that OTS 44's disc 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.

Credit: Album / NASA/JPL-Caltech / Science Source

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Image size: 3660 × 2928 px | 30.7 MB

Print size: 31.0 × 24.8 cm | 1440.9 × 1152.8 in (300 dpi)

Keywords: 44 • ART • ARTIST • ARTISTE • ASTRONOMIA • ASTRONOMY • ASTRONOMY: OBSERVATORY • BIRTH • BODY • BROWN • BV0035 • CELESTIAL • CHILDBIRTH • CONCEPT • DEEP • DISC • DISCUS • DISK • DWARF • EPROMO-2091 • EPROMO-SPACE-ILLUSTRATION-12-11-2019 • FAILED • HEAVENLY • ILLUSTRATION • ILLUSTRATIONS • ILUSTRATION • LABOUR • MATERNITY • MOTHERHOOD • OBSERVATORY • ORRERY • OTS • OUTERSPACE • PLANET-FORMING • PLANETARIUM • PLANETARY • PROTOPLANETARY • SCIENCE • SKY • SPACE (COSMOS) • SPACE • SPATIAL • STAR • SYSTEM • UNUSUAL