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Now for the weather on Luhman: Cloudy
with a chance of molten iron rain
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[January 30, 2014]
By Irene Klotz
(Reuters) — You think the weather is bad
on Earth lately. On Luhman 16B, a hybrid planet-star located 6.7 light
years away, scientists say it's raining molten iron, research released
on Wednesday shows.
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 The first weather maps from this dim, gaseous object known as a
brown dwarf, show a complex structure of patchy clouds, comprised of
liquid iron and other minerals stewing in scorching temperatures, a
pair of studies show.
Computer models indicate that as a brown dwarfs cools, liquid
droplets containing iron and other minerals form in their
atmospheres. The new studies indicate the droplets gather into
patchy clouds, which then rain down.
Brown dwarfs are bigger than Jupiter-sized planets, but too small
for nuclear fusion, the signature process that gives a star its
shine. Also known as "failed stars," brown dwarfs are born hot and
emit faint but telltale infrared light as they slowly cool.
Temperatures in the clouds of Luhman 16B, for example, are 1,700
degrees Fahrenheit (927 degrees Celsius).
Only a few hundred or so brown dwarfs have been found so far.
Scientists devised an innovative technique that not only could
detect how Luhman 16B, located 40 trillion miles (64 trillion km),
varied in brightness, but also whether light and dark features were
moving toward or away from observing telescopes.
The information was then compiled into cloud maps.
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"Soon, we will be able to watch cloud patterns form, evolve and
dissipate on this brown dwarf," astronomer Ian Crossfield, with the
Max Planck Institute in Germany, said in a statement. Scientists
expect to use similar techniques to understand the weather and
composition of planets beyond the solar system.
The studies are published in the journals Nature and the
Astrophysical Journal Letters.
(Editing by David Adams, Kevin Gray and Andrew Hay)
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