Teide 1
Encyclopedia
Teide 1 was the first brown dwarf
to be verified in 1995. This brown dwarf is located in the Pleiades
open star cluster located approximately 400 light years from Earth.
The apparent magnitude
of this faint object is 17.76, which is so faint that it can only seen in large amateur or bigger telescope
s. Its absolute magnitude
(the brightness of an object if it were 10 parsecs away) is 12.38, or about 140 times brighter than it is at 120 parsecs.
This object is more massive than a planet
(55 ± 15 MJ), but less massive than a star
(0.052 MSun). The radius of the brown dwarf is about that of Jupiter (or one-tenth that of the Sun). Its surface temperature
is 2600 ± 150 K, which is about half that of the Sun
. Its luminosity
is 0.1% that of the Sun, meaning it takes six months for Teide 1 to emit the amount of radiation emitted by the Sun in four hours. Its age
is only 120 million years compared to the Sun's age of 4.6 billion years.
This brown dwarf is hot enough to fuse lithium
in its core, but not hot enough to fuse hydrogen
like the Sun
.
Brown dwarf
Brown dwarfs are sub-stellar objects which are too low in mass to sustain hydrogen-1 fusion reactions in their cores, which is characteristic of stars on the main sequence. Brown dwarfs have fully convective surfaces and interiors, with no chemical differentiation by depth...
to be verified in 1995. This brown dwarf is located in the Pleiades
Pleiades (star cluster)
In astronomy, the Pleiades, or Seven Sisters , is an open star cluster containing middle-aged hot B-type stars located in the constellation of Taurus. It is among the nearest star clusters to Earth and is the cluster most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky...
open star cluster located approximately 400 light years from Earth.
The apparent magnitude
Apparent magnitude
The apparent magnitude of a celestial body is a measure of its brightness as seen by an observer on Earth, adjusted to the value it would have in the absence of the atmosphere...
of this faint object is 17.76, which is so faint that it can only seen in large amateur or bigger telescope
Telescope
A telescope is an instrument that aids in the observation of remote objects by collecting electromagnetic radiation . The first known practical telescopes were invented in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 1600s , using glass lenses...
s. Its absolute magnitude
Absolute magnitude
Absolute magnitude is the measure of a celestial object's intrinsic brightness. it is also the apparent magnitude a star would have if it were 32.6 light years away from Earth...
(the brightness of an object if it were 10 parsecs away) is 12.38, or about 140 times brighter than it is at 120 parsecs.
This object is more massive than a planet
Planet
A planet is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science,...
(55 ± 15 MJ), but less massive than a star
Star
A star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth...
(0.052 MSun). The radius of the brown dwarf is about that of Jupiter (or one-tenth that of the Sun). Its surface temperature
Temperature
Temperature is a physical property of matter that quantitatively expresses the common notions of hot and cold. Objects of low temperature are cold, while various degrees of higher temperatures are referred to as warm or hot...
is 2600 ± 150 K, which is about half that of the Sun
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
. Its luminosity
Luminosity
Luminosity is a measurement of brightness.-In photometry and color imaging:In photometry, luminosity is sometimes incorrectly used to refer to luminance, which is the density of luminous intensity in a given direction. The SI unit for luminance is candela per square metre.The luminosity function...
is 0.1% that of the Sun, meaning it takes six months for Teide 1 to emit the amount of radiation emitted by the Sun in four hours. Its age
Stellar evolution
Stellar evolution is the process by which a star undergoes a sequence of radical changes during its lifetime. Depending on the mass of the star, this lifetime ranges from only a few million years to trillions of years .Stellar evolution is not studied by observing the life of a single...
is only 120 million years compared to the Sun's age of 4.6 billion years.
This brown dwarf is hot enough to fuse lithium
Lithium
Lithium is a soft, silver-white metal that belongs to the alkali metal group of chemical elements. It is represented by the symbol Li, and it has the atomic number 3. Under standard conditions it is the lightest metal and the least dense solid element. Like all alkali metals, lithium is highly...
in its core, but not hot enough to fuse hydrogen
Hydrogen
Hydrogen is the chemical element with atomic number 1. It is represented by the symbol H. With an average atomic weight of , hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant chemical element, constituting roughly 75% of the Universe's chemical elemental mass. Stars in the main sequence are mainly...
like the Sun
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
.