2023-07-17 03:08:19
It was surprising, the researchers said, to discover that one source of radio waves was none other than the brown dwarf T8 Dwarf WISE J062309.94−045624.6, in part because less than 10% of brown dwarfs emit radio waves. “Once we realized it was a brown dwarf, yeah, it was definitely very exciting, because then you kind of go down this rabbit hole of trying to figure out the implications, what we can learn about the properties of the magnetic field,” Mr. Rose said. The researchers confirmed their findings with other radio telescopes, including MeerKAT in South Africa and the Australia Telescope Compact Array. While it wasn’t the coldest star ever detected (that was WISE J085510.83-071442.5, with a temperature of between minus 54 and 9 degrees Fahrenheit), it is the coldest star ever that emits radio waves. The results were “pretty remarkable,” said Elena Manjavakas, an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore who was not involved in the study. Combining the results with those obtained from other types of telescopes “gives you an essentially complete picture of the brown dwarf’s three-dimensional structure.” Beyond the scientific implications of the discovery, Mr. Rose emphasized the bigger picture. Being in nature, looking at the expanse of twinkling lights and knowing that, “In some cases, they’re cooler than the smoke from a campfire—I mean, that’s inspiring. “It is inspiring and humbling to understand our place in the universe,” he said.
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