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Substellar
A substellar object, sometimes called a substar, is an astronomical object the mass of which is smaller than the smallest mass at which hydrogen fusion can be sustained (approximately 0.08 solar masses). This definition includes brown dwarfs and former stars similar to EF Eridani B, and can also include objects of planetary mass, regardless of their formation mechanism and whether or not they are associated with a primary star. Assuming that a substellar object has a composition similar to the Sun's and at least the mass of Jupiter (approximately 10−3 solar masses), its radius will be comparable to that of Jupiter (approximately 0.1 solar radii) regardless of the mass of the substellar object (brown dwarfs are less than 75 Jupiter masses). This is because the center of such a substellar object at the top range of the mass (just below the hydrogen-burning limit) is quite degenerate, with a density of ≈103 g/cm3, but this degeneracy lessens with decreasing mass until, at the mass ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brown Dwarf
Brown dwarfs (also called failed stars) are substellar objects that are not massive enough to sustain nuclear fusion of ordinary hydrogen (hydrogen-1, 1H) into helium in their cores, unlike a main sequence, main-sequence star. Instead, they have a mass between the most massive gas giant planets and the least massive stars, approximately 13 to 80 Jupiter mass, times that of Jupiter (). However, they can deuterium burning, fuse deuterium (deuterium, 2H), and the most massive ones (> ) can lithium burning, fuse lithium (lithium-7, 7Li). Astronomers classify self-luminous objects by spectral classification, spectral class, a distinction intimately tied to the surface temperature, and brown dwarfs occupy types M, L, T, and Y. As brown dwarfs do not undergo stable hydrogen fusion, they cool down over time, progressively passing through later spectral types as they age. Despite their name, to the naked eye, brown dwarfs would appear in different colors depending on their temperatur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hydrogen Burning Limit
This glossary of astronomy is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to astronomy and cosmology, their sub-disciplines, and related fields. Astronomy is concerned with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth. The field of astronomy features an extensive vocabulary and a significant amount of jargon. A B C D E F G H I J K L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
EF Eridani B
EF Eridani (abbreviated EF Eri, sometimes incorrectly referred to as EF Eridanus) is a variable star of the type known as polars, AM Herculis stars, or magnetic cataclysmic variable stars. Historically it has varied between apparent magnitudes 14.5 and 17.3, although since 1995 it has generally remained at the lower limit. The star system consists of a white dwarf with a substellar-mass former star in orbit. EF Eridani B The substellar mass in orbit around the white dwarf is a star that lost all of its gas to the white dwarf. What remains is an object with a mass of 0.05 solar masses (), or about 53 Jupiter masses (), which is too small to continue fusion, and does not have the composition of a super-planet, brown dwarf, or white dwarf. There is no category for such a stellar remnant. It is theorized that 500 million years ago, the white dwarf started to cannibalize its partner, when they were separated by 7 million km. As it lost mass, the regular star spiraled inwar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deuterium Burning
Deuterium fusion, also called deuterium burning, is a nuclear fusion reaction that occurs in stars and some substellar objects, in which a deuterium nucleus and a proton combine to form a helium-3 nucleus. It occurs as the second stage of the proton–proton chain reaction, in which a deuterium nucleus formed from two protons fuses with another proton, but can also proceed from primordial deuterium. In protostars Deuterium is the most easily fused nucleus available to accreting protostars, and such fusion in the center of protostars can proceed when temperatures exceed 106 K. The reaction rate is so sensitive to temperature that the temperature does not rise very much above this. The energy generated by fusion drives convection, which carries the heat generated to the surface. If there were no deuterium available to fuse, then stars would gain significantly less mass in the pre- main-sequence phase, as the object would collapse faster, and more intense hydrogen fusion w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Exoplanet
An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917 but was not recognized as such. The first confirmation of detection occurred in 1992. A different planet, initially detected in 1988, was confirmed in 2003. There are many methods of detecting exoplanets. Transit photometry and Doppler spectroscopy have found the most, but these methods suffer from a clear observational bias favoring the detection of planets near the star; thus, 85% of the exoplanets detected are inside the tidal locking zone. In several cases, multiple planets have been observed around a star. About 1 in 5 Sun-like starsFor the purpose of this 1 in 5 statistic, "Sun-like" means G-type star. Data for Sun-like stars was not available so this statistic is an extrapolation from data about K-type stars. have an "Earth-sized"For the purpose of this 1 in 5 statistic, Earth-sized means 1–2 Earth radii. planet in the habitable ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Super-Jupiter
A super-Jupiter is a gas giant exoplanet that is more massive than the planet Jupiter. For example, companions at the planet–brown dwarf borderline have been called super-Jupiters, such as around the star Kappa Andromedae. By 2011 there were 180 known super-Jupiters, some hot, some cold. Even though they are more massive than Jupiter, they remain about the same size as Jupiter up to 80 Jupiter masses. This means that their surface gravity and density go up proportionally to their mass. The increased mass compresses the planet due to gravity, thus keeping it from being larger. In comparison, planets somewhat lighter than Jupiter can be larger, so-called " puffy planets" (gas giants with a large diameter but low density). An example of this may be the exoplanet HAT-P-1b with about half the mass of Jupiter but about 1.38 times larger diameter. CoRoT-3b, with a mass around 22 Jupiter masses, is predicted to have an average density of 26.4 g/cm3, greater than osmium (22.6 g/cm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Astronomical Object
An astronomical object, celestial object, stellar object or heavenly body is a naturally occurring physical entity, association, or structure that exists in the observable universe. In astronomy, the terms ''object'' and ''body'' are often used interchangeably. However, an astronomical body or celestial body is a single, tightly bound, contiguous entity, while an astronomical or celestial ''object'' is a complex, less cohesively bound structure, which may consist of multiple bodies or even other objects with substructures. Examples of astronomical objects include planetary systems, star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies, while asteroids, moons, planets, and stars are astronomical bodies. A comet may be identified as both body and object: It is a ''body'' when referring to the frozen nucleus of ice and dust, and an ''object'' when describing the entire comet with its diffuse coma and tail. History Astronomical objects such as stars, planets, nebulae, asteroids and comet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gas Giant
A gas giant is a giant planet composed mainly of hydrogen and helium. Gas giants are also called failed stars because they contain the same basic elements as a star. Jupiter and Saturn are the gas giants of the Solar System. The term "gas giant" was originally synonymous with "giant planet". However, in the 1990s, it became known that Uranus and Neptune are really a distinct class of giant planets, being composed mainly of heavier volatile substances (which are referred to as "ices"). For this reason, Uranus and Neptune are now often classified in the separate category of ice giants. Jupiter and Saturn consist mostly of hydrogen and helium, with heavier elements making up between 3 and 13 percent of their mass.The Interior of Jupiter, Guillot et al., in ''Jupiter: The Planet, Satellites and Magnetosphere'', Bagenal et al., editors, Cambridge University Press, 2004 They are thought to consist of an outer layer of compressed molecular hydrogen surrounding a layer of liquid metalli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Duncan MacMillan
William Duncan MacMillan (July 24, 1871 – November 14, 1948) was an American mathematician and astronomer on the faculty of the University of Chicago. He published research on the applications of classical mechanics to astronomy, and is noted for pioneering speculations on physical cosmology. For the latter, Helge Kragh noted, "the cosmological model proposed by MacMillan was designed to lend support to a cosmic optimism, which he felt was threatened by the world view of modern physics." Biography He was born in La Crosse, Wisconsin, to D. D. MacMillan, who was in the lumber business, and Mary Jane McCrea. His brother, John H. MacMillan, headed the Cargill Corporation from 1909 to 1936. MacMillan graduated from La Crosse High School in 1888. In 1889, he attended Lake Forest College, then entered the University of Virginia. Later in 1898, he earned an A.B. degree from Fort Worth University, which was then a Methodist university in Texas. He performed his graduate work at the U ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Terrestrial Planet Finder
The Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) was a proposed project by NASA to construct a system of space telescopes for detecting extrasolar terrestrial planets. TPF was postponed several times and finally cancelled in 2011. There were two telescope systems under consideration, the TPF-I, which had several small telescopes, and TPF-C, which used one large telescope. History In May 2002, NASA chose two TPF mission architecture concepts for further study and technology development. Each would use a different means to achieve the same goal—to block the light from a parent star in order to see its much smaller, dimmer planets. The technological challenge of imaging planets near their much brighter star has been likened to finding a firefly near the beam of a distant searchlight. Additional goals of the mission would include the characterization of the surfaces and atmospheres of newfound planets, and looking for the chemical signatures of life. The two planned architectures were: *I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wide Field Infrared Images Of Gliese 229 B
{{Disambiguation, callsign ...
WIDE or Wide may refer to: *Wide (cricket) *Wide and narrow data, terms used to describe two different presentations for tabular data *WIDE Project, Widely Integrated Distributed Environment *Wide-angle Infinity Display Equipment *WIDE-LP, a radio station (99.1 FM) licensed to Madison, Wisconsin *Women in Development Europe; see * wide (tennis), meaning beyond the sidelines People with the name Wide *Ernst Wide (1888–1950), a Swedish Olympic long-distance runner *Edvin Wide (1896–1996), a Swedish Olympic long-distance runner *Samuel Wide (1861–1918), a Swedish archaeologist See also * * * *Widen *Width (other) Width is a measure of distance from side to side, measuring across an object at right angles to the length. Width may also refer to: Graph theory * Width of a partial order - the cardinality of a maximum antichain. * Width of a tree decomposit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mini-Neptune
A Mini-Neptune (sometimes known as a gas dwarf or transitional planet) is a planet less massive than Neptune but resembling Neptune in that it has a thick hydrogen–helium atmosphere, probably with deep layers of ice, rock or liquid oceans (made of water, ammonia, a mixture of both, or heavier volatiles). A gas dwarf is a gas planet with a rocky core that has accumulated a thick envelope of hydrogen, helium, and other volatiles, having, as a result, a total radius between 1.7 and 3.9 Earth radii (). The term is used in a three-tier, metallicity-based classification regime for short-period exoplanets, which also includes the rocky, terrestrial-like planets with less than and planets greater than , namely ice giants and gas giants. Properties Theoretical studies of such planets are loosely based on knowledge about Uranus and Neptune. Without a thick atmosphere, it would be classified as an ocean planet instead. An estimated dividing line between a rocky planet and a gaseou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
