Luhman 16 facts for kids
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Luhman 16 is a special pair of objects called brown dwarfs. These two brown dwarfs orbit each other, making them a binary system. You can find them in the southern sky, in a group of stars known as the constellation Vela. They are about 6.6 light-years away from our Sun. This system is also known as WISE 1049-5319.
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What are Brown Dwarfs?
Brown dwarfs are sometimes called "failed stars." They are bigger than planets but not quite big enough to become full-fledged stars like our Sun. Stars create their own light and heat by burning fuel in their cores. Brown dwarfs don't have enough mass to do this, so they are much dimmer and cooler than stars.
Our Closest Brown Dwarf Neighbors
Luhman 16 is very important because its two brown dwarfs are the closest ones known to our Solar System. In fact, this system is the closest new star system discovered since Barnard's Star was found way back in 1916! This makes Luhman 16 a very exciting place for scientists to study.
The Two Brown Dwarfs of Luhman 16
The Luhman 16 system has two main parts, often called Luhman 16A and Luhman 16B.
Different Types of Brown Dwarfs
One of the brown dwarfs, Luhman 16A, is classified as an L-type brown dwarf. The other, Luhman 16B, is thought to be a T-type brown dwarf. These types describe how hot they are and what elements are in their atmosphere. L-type brown dwarfs are generally hotter than T-type brown dwarfs.
How They Orbit Each Other
These two brown dwarfs are quite close to each other. They orbit around a common center, much like the Earth orbits the Sun. The distance between them is about 3 AU. An AU is the average distance from the Earth to the Sun, which is about 150 million kilometers (93 million miles). It takes them about 25 years to complete one full orbit around each other.
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