Artistic conception of a brown dwarf. Public Domain Image, source: NASA/JPL-Caltech. Yes, a star can turn into a planet, but this transformation only happens for a very particular type of star known as a brown dwarf.Feb 24, 2019
What kind of star becomes a brown dwarf?
Current IAU standard. Currently, the International Astronomical Union considers an object above 13 M J (the limiting mass for thermonuclear fusion of deuterium) to be a brown dwarf, whereas an object under that mass (and orbiting a star or stellar remnant) is considered a planet.
Is a brown dwarf a planet that has turned into a star?
Since brown dwarfs don't have nuclear fusion they behave differently than a star and are essentially massive objects composed of gas and dust with no fuel to burn. Brown dwarfs are less massive than the Sun but much more massive than gas giants (i.e. 13 to 90 times more massive than Jupiter).
How is a brown dwarf star created?
Brown dwarfs are formed along with stars by the contraction of gases and dust in the interstellar medium, McLean said. The first brown dwarf was not discovered until 1995, yet McLean suspects the galaxy is teeming with them. Gas giant planets like Jupiter were formed from gaseous material surrounding the young star.
Can a Red Dwarf become a brown dwarf?
Molecules like methane or ammonia can only exist in objects cooler than stars, so if a red dwarf contains these molecules, it can be classified as a brown dwarf.
Is Saturn a brown dwarf?
Brown dwarfs fall somewhere between the masses of giant planets like Saturn and Jupiter, and the smallest stars. We could speak of brown dwarf masses as fractions of our sun's mass, but astronomers typically use Jupiter's mass as a standard measure.
Is Jupiter a failed star?
"Jupiter is called a failed star because it is made of the same elements (hydrogen and helium) as is the Sun, but it is not massive enough to have the internal pressure and temperature necessary to cause hydrogen to fuse to helium, the energy source that powers the sun and most other stars.
Is Neptune a failed star?
As a comparison, of the known planets in our own solar system, Neptune is the major planet orbiting farthest from our sun at 30 AU. So brown dwarfs are not planets, and they are failed stars, not massive enough to power hydrogen fusion reactions. Thus they get their own classification.
Can a star become a planet?
Yes, a star can turn into a planet, but this transformation only happens for a very particular type of star known as a brown dwarf. Some scientists do not consider brown dwarfs to be true stars because they do not have enough mass to ignite the nuclear fusion of ordinary hydrogen.
Is Jupiter a failed star NASA?
"Jupiter is called a failed star because it is made of the same elements (hydrogen and helium) as is the Sun, but it is not massive enough to have the internal pressure and temperature necessary to cause hydrogen to fuse to helium, the energy source that powers the sun and most other stars.