New type of star

1999/01/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Astronomia

Astronomers in the US have discovered a type of star that can be very widespread in our galaxy. These stars emit very weak light, so they can not be easily detected with conventional telescopes. However, if we analyze the sky in infrared, we can find around us a lot of stars of this type, as noted by the American Astronomical Society at its meeting in San Diego.

So far they have analysed 1% of the sky and have already discovered around 20 stars of this type. These stars are thought to be “brown dwarf” structures, that is, dark balls of gas that like other stars do not achieve nuclear fusion. Due to their low temperature, in these stars there can be atoms and molecules not present in other stars. Astronomers believe that this type of stars is very large and have decided to change the star rating system so that this type of stars will take place.