Scientists discovered a star leisurely snacking on a closely orbiting brown dwarf. This is the first observation of a low-mass object slowly and steadily consuming material from another low-mass object, rather than quickly engulfing it.
“The rate at which the star is feeding from the brown dwarf suggests that this slow stellar cannibalism could carry on for hundreds of thousands, or even billions of years.”
I wonder why they called it cannibalism
A brown dwarf is an astronomical object that is larger than a planet but not massive enough to sustain hydrogen fusion like a star, typically having a mass between 13 and 80 times that of Jupiter. They are often referred to as “failed stars” because they can fuse deuterium but cannot maintain stable hydrogen fusion.
“The rate at which the star is feeding from the brown dwarf suggests that this slow stellar cannibalism could carry on for hundreds of thousands, or even billions of years.”
I wonder why they called it cannibalism
That’s uhhh… quite the margin of error there. Hundreds of thousands… or billions.
"I have $1 … or $900,000
Stars eating stars
is a brown dwarf already a star?
A brown dwarf is an astronomical object that is larger than a planet but not massive enough to sustain hydrogen fusion like a star, typically having a mass between 13 and 80 times that of Jupiter. They are often referred to as “failed stars” because they can fuse deuterium but cannot maintain stable hydrogen fusion.
Very interesting read on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_dwarf