ASTRON’s LOFAR low-frequency array radio telescope identified the magnetic field of the ‘brown dwarf’
Translated by J Bank
Researchers from ASTRON, the Dutch institute for radio astronomy in Dwingeloo in the province Drenthe, have become the first to observe a ‘brown dwarf’ using a radio telescope, reports RTV Drenthe.
Brown dwarfs are sometimes called ‘failed’ stars. They are spheres of gas that are larger than the gas-giant planets (such as Jupiter or Saturn), but too small to develop the temperature and pressure necessary for nuclear fusion and development into a star. Scoop
Normally, brown dwarfs are detected using infrared telescopes, because they emit more radiation in the infrared spectrum. But now the LOFAR low-frequency array telescope has been used by researchers to ‘see’ the brown dwarf thanks to its magnetic field.
Image of Jodrell Bank telescope, located Lower Withington in the UK by petergaunt2 via Pixabay . The LOFAR system at ASTRON is a different type of telescope.
