James Webb Space Telescope data pinpoint possible aurorae on a cold brown dwarf

James Webb Space Telescope data pinpoint possible aurorae on a cold brown dwarf

by American Museum of Natural History

https://phys.org/news/2024-04-james-webb-space-telescope-aurorae.html



This artist concept portrays the brown dwarf W1935, which is located 47 light-years from Earth.

Astronomers using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope found infrared emission from methane coming from W1935. This is an unexpected discovery because the brown dwarf is cold and lacks a host star; therefore, there is no obvious source of energy to heat its upper atmosphere and make the methane glow. The team speculates that the methane emission may be due to processes generating aurorae, shown here in red.

Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Leah Hustak (Space Telescope Science Institute)

Using new observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers have discovered methane emission on a brown dwarf, an unexpected finding for such a cold and isolated world. Published in the journal Nature, the findings suggest that this brown dwarf might generate aurorae similar to those seen on our own planet as well as on Jupiter and Saturn.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07190-w