Hydrogen cyanide and acetylene detected in a brown dwarf

This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: The MIRI/MRS spectrum of WISE-0458, and the best-fit model. Credit: arXiv (2025). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2502.13610 Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), an international team of astronomers has explored the atmosphere of a nearby brown dwarf binary designated WISE J045853.90+643451.9. As a result, they detected hydrogen cyanide and acetylene in the atmosphere of this binary, marking the first time these two species have been identified in the atmosphere of a brown dwarf. The finding was reported Feb. 19 on the arXiv pre-print server. Brown dwarfs are intermediate objects between planets and stars. Astronomers generally agree that they are substellar objects occupying the mass range between 13 and 80 Jupiter masses. One subclass of brown dwarfs (with effective temperatures between 500 and 1,500 K) is ... Read full article.