Formation & Evolution
How planets form and evolve over time
Brown Dwarfs as Exoplanetary Analogs
Brown dwarfs, substellar objects that never ignite hydrogen fusion, were predicted in 1962 (Kumar, 1962) and first observed in the mid-1990s (Nakajima et al., 1995; Rebolo et al., 1995). Young brown dwarfs share many properties with exoplanets (radii, masses, colors), making them invaluable for developing atmospheric models and classification systems. The spectral types L, T, and Y describe progressively cooler atmospheres (Kirkpatrick et al., 1999; Burgasser et al., 2003; Cushing et al., 2011): L dwarfs show metal lines, T dwarfs exhibit methane absorption, and Y dwarfs display ammonia features like Jupiter (Li et al., 2017).
Formation & Evolution
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