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July 19, 2021

Rapidly rotating brown dwarf

Astronomers have discovered three rapidly rotating brown dwarfs -- often called "failed stars" -- that are the fastest known, with each completing a full rotation roughly once every hour.

[Research supported in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation grant AST 1539773.]

Learn more in the NSF Research News story Caught speeding: Clocking the fastest-spinning brown dwarfs. (Date image taken: unknown; date originally posted to NSF Multimedia Gallery: July 19, 2021)

Credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. da Silva


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