Striped or Spotted? Winds and Jet Streams Found on the Closest Brown Dwarf
Striped or Spotted? Winds and Jet Streams Found on the Closest Brown Dwarf Planetary scientists wondered if bands of winds or swirling storms dominated the atmospheres of brown dwarfs. UArizona-led research has solved the mystery. By Mikayla Mace Kelley, University Communications Jan. 7, 2021 Using high-precision brightness measurements from NASA's TESS space telescope, astronomers found that the nearby brown dwarf Luhman 16B's atmosphere is dominated by high-speed, global winds akin to Earth's jet stream system. This global circulation determines how clouds are distributed in th...