Teide 1

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Teide 1
Observation data
Epoch J2000.0
Constellation
(pronunciation)
Taurus
Right ascension 3h 47m 18.0s
Declination +24° 22′ 31″
Apparent magnitude (V) 17.76
Characteristics
Spectral type M8
U-B color index ?
B-V color index ?
V-R color index ?
R-I color index ?
Variable type ?
Astrometry
Radial velocity (Rv) ? km/s
Proper motion (μ) RA: ? mas/yr
Dec.: ? mas/yr
Parallax (π) 8.40 ± ? mas
Distance 400 ly (120 pc)
Absolute magnitude (MV) 12.38
Details
Mass 0.052 M
Radius 0.22 R
Surface gravity (log g) 6.6
Luminosity 0.001 L
Temperature 2200 K
Metallicity ?
Rotation ?
Age 120 million years

Teide 1 was the first brown dwarf to be verified in 1995. This brown dwarf is located in Pleiades open star cluster located approximately 400 light years from Earth.

The apparent magnitude of this faint object is 17.76, which is so faint that it can only be visible through a telescope. If it was placed 10 parsecs from our home planet, it would appear 70 times brighter (absolute magnitude 12.38) than if it were located at a distance of about 120 parsecs.

This object is more massive than planets (55 MJ), but it is less massive than stars (0.052 MS). The radius of the brown dwarf is twice that of Jupiter or one-fifths that of the Sun. Its surface temperature is only 2200 K, which is less than half that of our Sun. Its luminosity is 0.1% that of our Sun, meaning if the amount of radiation emitted by the Sun for four hours, it would take six months for Teide 1 to emit this much radiation. The age is only 120 million years (or 3.8 petaseconds) which is only 3% as old as our local star.

This brown dwarf is hot enough to fuse lithium in its core, but not hot enough to fuse hydrogen like our own star.

It is unlikely that it would support life on any potential planets because the brown dwarf is so faint and cool. In fact, Teide 1 will have temperature as little as 1700 K in one billion years hence.


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