2005/06/01 by E. T. Whelan, Emma T. Whelan, T. P. Ray +9 · 6 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Accretion (finance) #Astro and Planetary Science #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Brown dwarf #Outflow #Physics #Planet #Stars #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/nature03598
openalex publication_date 2005/06/01 · arxiv created 2005/06/21 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The birth of stars involves not only accretion but also, counter-intuitively, the expulsion of matter in the form of highly supersonic outflows. Although this phenomenon has been seen in young stars, a fundamental question is whether it also occurs amongst newborn brown dwarfs: these are the so-called 'failed stars', with masses between stars and planets, that never manage to reach temperatures high enough for normal hydrogen fusion to occur. Recently, evidence for accretion in young brown dwarfs has mounted, and their spectra show lines that are suggestive of outflows. Here we report spectro-astrometric data that spatially resolve an outflow from a brown dwarf. The outflow's characteristics appear similar to, but on a smaller scale than, outflows from normal young stars. This result suggests that the outflow mechanism is universal, and perhaps relevant even to the formation of planets.