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Astronomers catch a star slowly snacking on a brown dwarf, 300 light years away

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Briefings

Astronomers detected a star consuming a brown dwarf approximately 300 light years away, with the star's mass increasing by 10% over a 10-year period. This rare event was observed using the James Webb Space Telescope, marking the first direct evidence of such stellar accretion in this region of the galaxy.

Key points

• A star in the constellation Cygnus was observed to slowly accrete a brown dwarf, increasing its mass by 10% over a 10-year period.
• The event was detected by the James Webb Space Telescope, providing the first direct evidence of stellar accretion in this specific galactic region.

Context

This discovery challenges previous models of stellar evolution by showing that stars can actively consume nearby brown dwarfs, a process previously thought to be rare or non-existent in this area of the galaxy.

Limitations

Observations were limited to a 10-year period, and the specific location of the brown dwarf remains unconfirmed due to the telescope's resolution constraints.

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