Temperature of coffee relevant for new found stars
Professor Brian Cox has reignited our interest in the solar system and beyond, with his current series ‘Wonders of the Universe’ on the BBC. He has instructed the nation on the nature of dying stars, the lifespan of the universe and the qualities of gravity.
As such, the astronomically minded may be interested to hear some new discoveries in space. It has been recently published that two brown dwarf stars have just been detected and they orbit each other every 30 years. And why are these stars of particular note? It is reported that one of them is extraordinarily cold for a star…. apparently, only just warmer than a cup of coffee.
The brown dwarf stars were spotted by ESO’s telescope. The characteristics of these stellar objects are that they do not have the appropriate mass or gravity of other stars, which fuels their nuclear reactions. So how warm is the average cup of coffee that the stars have been compared to? The coldest of the two stars is some 75 light years from our planet and its temperature is only 100 degrees Celsius (compared to the equivalent reading on the sun’s surface which would be more than 5,500 degrees). Astronomers are excited as they think it may be possible for this cold star to have water clouds in its atmosphere, given the unusually low temperatures.
The scientists who were involved in detecting these brown dwarf stars are now planning more investigations to learn more about the stellar qualities of their discoveries.