Brown Dwarfs Beaming Like Pulsars

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Artists conception of mini-aurorae at poles of brown dwarf producing beams of strong radio emission. CREDIT: Hallinan et al. NRAOAUINSF
Artist's conception of "mini-aurorae" at poles of brown dwarf, producing beams of strong radio emission. CREDIT: Hallinan et al., NRAO/AUI/NSF

Brown dwarfs, thought just a few years ago to be incapable of emitting any significant amounts of radio waves, have been discovered putting out extremely bright "lighthouse beams" of radio waves, much like pulsars. A team of astronomers made the discovery using the National Science Foundation's Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope.


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