“We would expect an object that cold to have water clouds, and this is the best evidence that it does”, said study lead author Andrew Skemer, an assistant professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz. It’s average temperature is about 250 degrees Kelvin, or minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit, making it almost as cold as Jupiter, which clocks in at around 130 degrees Kelvin. It was first discovered in 2014 using date from the NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) spacecraft (hence its name), and later research found early evidence of atmospheric water clouds. Gemini North is present on the highest Hawaiian mountain (Mauna Kea), at a height with slight water vapor to obstruct with telescopic observations.
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A report published in Business-Standard said, “An analysis of data obtained from a brown dwarf has showed strong evidence of the existence of clouds of water or water ice – the first such clouds detected outside of our solar system”.
The study was published back in May in Astrophysical Journal Letters by a team from UC Santa Cruz and NASA and updates what we now know about the dwarf, which was discovered in 2014 by NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE).
The coldest object discovered outside our solar system, WISE 0855 has about five times the mass of Jupiter and a temperature of about 250 degrees Kelvin or minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit.
Owing to which the Gemini-North telescope in Hawaii was put in use to keep a watch on the brown dwarf for around 14 hours a night for 13 nights.
Artist’s illustration of how the nearby brown dwarf WISE 0855 might appear if viewed close-up in infrared light.
According to the scientists behind the discovery, this means that this failed star can be compared to Jupiter. But WISE 0855 is so cold, it can barely be seen even with our largest infrared telescopes, leading astronomers to conclude that it is the coldest known object outside of our solar system.
Stars have their shine because hydrogen is converted into helium through nuclear fusion. One significant difference, however, is an abundance of phosphine on Jupiter, which is indicative of a turbulent atmosphere – something the brown dwarf seems to lack.
“It’s five times fainter than any other object detected with ground-based spectroscopy at this wavelength”, Skemer added.
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Researchers hope to use WISE to uncover more brown dwarfs that’ll allow them to study the chemical properties in Jupiter’s atmosphere, but on another body. “Now that we have a spectrum, we can really start thinking about what’s going on in this object”. This in turn will help scientists to learn more about such cold objects in outer space.
