Coldest star, as frosty as Earth's North Pole, has been discovered by Penn State University astronomers with the help of Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and the Spitzer Space Telescope. On analyzing images captured by WISE, astronomers found that the star is at distance of 7.2 light-years away from earth. It has also been declared as the fourth-closest system to the sun.
The star-like body, categorized as the coldest 'brown dwarf', has been dubbed as WISE J085510.83-071442.5 and has temperature between minus 54 and 9 degrees Fahrenheit. Kevin Luhman, an astronomer at Pennsylvania State University, feels excited on welcoming a new neighbor of our solar system.
The new brown dwarf was discovered for the first time moving at a very fast speed in March 2013 with the help of WISE. But, now they used Spitzer and the Gemini South telescope on Cerro Pachon in Chile to determine the temperature of the brown dwarf.
Astronomers said that the newly discovered brown dwarf is moving at a very fast speed and is invisible when seen by visible-light telescopes. With the help of measurements from WISE and Spitzer telescopes, researchers were able to measure object's distance through the parallax effect.
"The same principle explains why your finger, when held out right in front of you, appears to jump from side to side when you alternate left- and right-eye views", said NASA astronomers.
Astronomers believe that the findings will help gain insight into atmospheres of planets. Two warm dwarfs at a distance of 6.5 light years from Earth, making the system as third closest planet to sun, were discovered by Luhman in March 2013.
Source : http://newstonight.co.za/content/astronomers-discover-coldest-star-72-light-years-distance
