There are reports that scientists for the first time have measured the wind speed on an object outside of the solar system. The object that scientists have used in the process is brown dwarf, and it is 33.2 light-years away from the Earth.
Brown dwarfs aren’t exactly stars, but neither are they planets. These “failed stars” are too big to become planets. The brown dwarf in this analysis is pretty much similar to the size of Jupiter, which is the largest planet that exists in our solar system. The brown dwarf being the size of Jupiter is still 40 times massive than that of Jupiter.
Scientists noted wind speeds exceeding 1450 miles per hour at the nearby cool brown dwarf 2MASS J1047 + 21. The paper was published in the Journal Science on Thursday.
There are reports that earlier, the wind speeds were measured only on planets and bodies in our solar system by the scientists. The latest findings omitted models used to predict wind speeds beyond our solar system.
Peter Williams, study author and innovation scientist for the Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian, and the American Astronomical Society said that this modern methodology opens the way to a greater understanding of the behaviour of atmospheres that are different from that present in our solar system. Also, the scientist said that the methodology could be used to measure winds on extrasolar planets besides measuring it on other brown dwarfs.
“Because the magnetic fields of giant exoplanets are weaker than those of brown dwarfs, the radio measurements will need to be done at lower frequencies than those used for 2MASS J10475385+2124234”, said Williams of the Center for Astrophysics.
“We’re excited that our method can now be used to help us better understand the atmospheric dynamics of brown dwarfs and extrasolar planets,” Katelyn Allers of Bucknell University said.
Scientists measure wind speed on a brown dwarf 33.2 light-years away from Earth
