Surface map of Luhman 16B recreated from VLT observations (annotated)

ESO's Very Large Telescope has been used to create the first ever map of the weather on the surface of the nearest brown dwarf to Earth. An international team has made a chart of the dark and light features on WISE J104915.57-531906.1B, which is informally known as Luhman 16B and is one of two recently discovered brown dwarfs forming a pair only six light-years from the Sun.

The figure shows the object at six equally spaced times as it rotates once on its axis.

Credit:

ESO/I. Crossfield

About the Image

Id:eso1404b
Type:Chart
Release date:29 January 2014, 19:00
Related releases:eso1404
Size:3508 x 2480 px

About the Object

Name:WISE J104915.57-531906.1
Type:Milky Way : Star : Type : Brown Dwarf
Distance:6 light years
Category:Stars

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