(December 29, 2006) Dr. J. Davy Kirkpatrick of the California Institute of Technology talks about ‘failed stars’ known as brown dwarfs. Because these objects fall between stars and planets, they have traits common to both. Brown dwarfs could possibly outnumber stars by a factor of two to one, meaning the Sun’s nearest neighbor in space may not be Proxima Centauri, but instead an even closer brown dwarf not yet identified. What do brown dwarfs tell us about the life of stars? Science Standards: How Stars Produce Energy; Universe: Compare and Contrast Stars; Scientific Views of the Universe.
Doctor
