{"id":571939,"date":"2026-10-09T04:22:48","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T18:22:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/?p=1055029"},"modified":"2026-10-09T04:22:48","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T18:22:48","slug":"nasas-spherex-telescope-sees-menagerie-of-brown-dwarfs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=571939","title":{"rendered":"NASA\u2019s SPHEREx Telescope Sees Menagerie of Brown Dwarfs"},"content":{"rendered":"
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5 min read<\/p>\n

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\"A<\/a><\/figure>
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As it maps the sky, NASA\u2019s SPHEREx telescope is finding thousands of brown dwarfs hiding in the dark. A selection is shown in this collage of observations, listed by spectral type, distance, and temperature in degrees Kelvin.<\/div>\n
Zafar Rustamkulov\/NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

NASA\u2019s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer) space telescope is shedding light on brown dwarfs, celestial objects that blur the line between stars and exoplanets. New findings published in The Astrophysical Journal show that these dark and cloudy worlds have chemically rich atmospheres not unlike the giant planets in our own solar system. <\/p>\n

First discovered in the 1990s, brown dwarfs form from collapsing clouds of gas, like stars do, but they aren\u2019t hefty enough to sustain hydrogen fusion in their cores. These dimly glowing balls of warm gas also share characteristics with Jupiter and Saturn. In contrast to most planets, however, brown dwarfs drift in darkness, ungoverned by a host star and heated entirely from within.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re kind of goth,\u201d said Zafar Rustamkulov, lead author of the new study<\/a> and a scientist at IPAC, Caltech\u2019s science and data center in Pasadena, California. \u201cUnlike exoplanets<\/a>, free-floating brown dwarfs are completely independent celestial objects that will fade into eternity alone. We\u2019re still learning how complex they are.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"An<\/a><\/figure>
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Untold numbers of brown dwarfs roam the cosmos, like the one in this artist\u2019s concept. But only a few dozen have been studied in detail with space-based telescopes. With the help of NASA\u2019s SPHEREx, scientists are in the process of analyzing thousands more.<\/div>\n
NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Only a few dozen of these \u201cdark wanderers\u201d have been studied in detail with space-based telescopes. Astronomers want to observe more of them in the wild because much of our understanding of their makeup, storminess, and evolution comes from theoretical models.<\/p>\n

Enter NASA\u2019s SPHEREx<\/a>, an infrared space telescope launched in March 2025 and managed by the agency\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.<\/p>\n

The study authors analyzed SPHEREx observations of 37 nearby brown dwarfs spanning the full brown dwarf temperature range, from about 4,000 to minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit (2,200 to minus 20 degrees Celsius). The telescope measures their brightness in 102 different colors, from the deepest red our eyes can see, to the invisible heat of infrared light, creating a spectrum<\/a>. These spectra revealed to the study authors chemically rich atmospheres harboring water, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and methane.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re seeing the signatures of these molecules and how they change from object to object across the entire temperature regime,\u201d said study coauthor J. Davy Kirkpatrick, a scientist at Caltech\u2019s IPAC. \u201cOur paper concentrated on just three dozen, but we have thousands more that we are in the process of analyzing. I really want to see what bounds the universe places on the variety of brown dwarfs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom orbit, SPHEREx sees wavelengths of light that are basically impossible to see with telescopes on the ground because water in Earth\u2019s atmosphere absorbs them,\u201d Rustamkulov said. \u201cWe are picking up light from the deep, red clouds of brown dwarfs all over the sky.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sweet spot<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Spotting brown dwarfs is something of a side project for SPHEREx. The space telescope takes about 3,600 unique images per day to stitch into maps of the entire sky<\/a>. Knowing where hundreds of millions of galaxies are distributed across the cosmos will help scientists reconstruct what happened in the first billionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second after the big bang. As it scans the sky, the telescope also is searching for the chemical ingredients of life and finding interstellar ice<\/a> that could one day seed oceans on distant worlds.<\/p>\n

For years, brown dwarfs have been spotted by other observatories, including NASA\u2019s James Webb Space Telescope<\/a> and retired Spitzer<\/a> Space Telescope. But thanks to its spectral coverage, SPHEREx is now imaging thousands of them for the first time in a fruitful region of the electromagnetic spectrum that spans deep red and infrared wavelengths of light.<\/p>\n

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\"An<\/a><\/figure>
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Thanks to its spectral coverage, NASA\u2019s SPHEREx is revealing molecules like methane (CH4), carbon dioxide (CO2), and carbon monoxide (CO) in brown dwarf atmospheres. The telescope\u2019s view of three different brown dwarfs appears on the left; the depictions on the right imagine them as Jupiter-like worlds.<\/div>\n
Zafar Rustamkulov\/International Gemini Observatory\/NOIRLab\/NSF\/AURA, M.H. Wong (UC Berkeley) et al. Acknowledgments: M. Zamani<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

At those wavelengths, molecules carve out distinct absorption patterns in the light shining out to space. The patterns change as brown dwarfs grow older and colder. Some of the brown dwarfs observed by SPHEREx are in a dynamic stage of life when their exotic clouds thin out, giving way to methane-rich atmospheres.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe state-of-the-art models are capturing the general chemical trend, but when it comes to these cloudy transitions, the models are struggling to match the data,\u201d said Rustamkulov. \u201cNo two brown dwarfs are alike. Even at the same temperature, their spectra look quite distinct.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe findings are a call to action to explore even more of these dark worlds,\u201d said Kirkpatrick. \u201cThis journey has turned many of us into accidental meteorologists. We know how hard it is to predict weather on our own planet, and we realize it\u2019s going to be just as challenging to explain the phenomena we see in these bizarre, cold objects.\u201d<\/p>\n

More about SPHEREx<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The mission is managed by JPL for NASA\u2019s Astrophysics Division within the Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The telescope and the spacecraft bus were built by BAE Systems. The science analysis of the SPHEREx data is being conducted by a team of scientists at 13 institutions across the United States and in South Korea and Taiwan, led by Jamie Bock, principal investigator, who is based at Caltech with a joint JPL appointment, and by JPL\u2019s Olivier Dor\u00e9, the project scientist. Data is processed and archived at IPAC at Caltech in Pasadena. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. The SPHEREx dataset is freely available to scientists and the public.<\/p>\n

For more information about the SPHEREx mission visit:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/mission\/spherex\/<\/a><\/p>\n

-end-<\/p>\n

Media Contact<\/strong><\/p>\n

Calla Cofield
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
626-808-2469
calla.e.cofield@jpl.nasa.gov<\/a><\/p>\n

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Written by Sally Younger<\/p>\n

2026-069<\/p>\n

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