New James Webb Space Telescope observations have shed light on a distant world with no sun. Despite its nocturnal state, the alien sphere still glows with auroras brighter than the Earth\u2019s northern lights.<\/p>\n
The alien world, called SIMP-0136, is roughly 20 light-years away in the Pisces constellation. It is approximately 200 million years old and isn\u2019t technically a planet. SIMP-0136 is a brown dwarf, a celestial body that blurs the line between gas giant planets and stars.<\/p>\n
Analyzing a \u2018failed star\u2019<\/p>\n
Astronomers don\u2019t fully understand how brown dwarfs are formed. The objects, sometimes referred to as \u201cfailed stars\u201d, might form similarly to planets, due to the accretion of material in a protoplanetary disk. They could also form like a star, thanks to the contraction of gas.<\/p>\n
We do know that brown dwarfs never grow large enough to sustain a nuclear fusion reaction in their core. This means they cannot be classified as a star. However, they do host planets and emit measurable light, like a star. On the other hand, they also have auroras and atmospheres with storms, like planets.<\/p>\n
The brown dwarf SIMP-0136 is even more unusual because it is a rogue world. This means it is floating freely through space, untethered from any star system.<\/p>\n
A team of scientists pored over data collected by the James Webb Space Telescope to understand the alien world better. They detailed their findings in a new paper<\/a> published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.<\/p>\n The team tracked changes in SIMP-0136\u2019s atmosphere as it performed a full rotation. The result is a \u201cweather report\u201d that provides new insight into the rogue world. <\/p>\n