Brown dwarf W1935 (IMAGE)
Caption
This artist concept portrays the brown dwarf W1935, which is located 47 light-years from Earth. Astronomers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope found infrared emission from methane coming from W1935. This is an unexpected discovery because the brown dwarf is cold and lacks a host star; therefore, there is no obvious source of energy to heat its upper atmosphere and make the methane glow. The team speculates that the methane emission may be due to processes generating aurorae, shown here in red.
Credit
NASA, ESA, CSA, Leah Hustak (Space Telescope Science Institute)
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Can be used with appropriate credit
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Original content