'Brown dwarf' survives being swallowed by giant star

A "failed star" that emits only a dull glow has been "eaten" by a large nearby star and spit back out in one piece.

The large star - a red giant - was going through its final phase of life, having started a period of massive expansion when it swallowed the brown dwarf.

Using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope, astronomers say the brown dwarf - about 55 times the size of Jupiter - was actually orbiting inside the star.

Such giant stars can measure up to 100 times the size of the Sun.

Astronomers say the red giant then imploded, shedding its outer layers and revealing its core.

At the same time, the astronomers say the brown dwarf came out unscathed, a rare event for an object that small (relatively speaking).

Both the star and the brown dwarf are now the size of large planets and are orbiting one another, gradually moving closer together.

Astronomers say in 1.4 billion years the two will become so close that the star will act as a "vacuum cleaner", drawing gas from the brown dwarf in what they call a "cosmic cannibal act".

The astronomers claim that if the brown dwarf were any smaller - say less than 20 times Jupiter's size - it wouldn't have survived the implosion at all.

That being said, the astronomers also claim that if Earth suffered the same fate as the brown dwarf, it wouldn't have much luck either.

Photography: Universe Today

Source: Discovery Channel Reports, August 3 edition