The James Webb Space Telescope has made a groundbreaking discovery in the Flame Nebula, revealing tiny brown dwarfs that are two to three times the mass of Jupiter. These small objects, which straddle the line between stars and planets, have long been a mystery due to their inability to be studied using standard telescopes.
The JWST’s advanced infrared detectors allow it to detect heat signatures from these objects, making them visible in the dense dust and gas of the Flame Nebula. This discovery marks “a quantum leap” forward for astronomers, who hope to use this data to clarify the boundaries between a planet, a brown dwarf, and a full-fledged star.
The research team, led by Matthew De Furio from the University of Texas at Austin, used existing Hubble data to identify a promising region of the Flame Nebula. The JWST then confirmed the presence of these tiny brown dwarfs, which are thought to be free-floating objects that have not yet coalesced into stars.
The discovery is significant because it sheds light on one of the biggest mysteries in astronomy: exactly how small a brown dwarf can be. The researchers believe that JWST’s ability to split light into its constituent wavelengths will help them better understand these objects and their place in the universe.
Source: https://www.livescience.com/space/astronomy/space-photo-of-the-week-james-webb-telescopes-view-of-the-flame-nebula-is-a-quantum-leap-forward-for-astronomers