MIT astronomers find star slowly eating brown dwarf companion
Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers identified a star system 300 light-years away where a small star is gradually consuming a brown dwarf.
Discovery of unusual feeding process
Scientists observed a system where one object steals material from another over a very long time. This behavior differs from stars that quickly swallow their companions or planets in stable orbits. The process involves the star pulling matter from its neighbor steadily rather than all at once.
Nature of the brown dwarf
The companion object is large enough to be more than a planet but lacks the mass of a true star. It sits too close to the main star for its own orbit to remain stable against gravity. This specific arrangement allows the feeding event to persist for billions of years.
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