Brown dwarf discovered 30 years ago found to be twin stars

In a groundbreaking discovery, astronomers have revealed that Gliese 229B, the first known brown dwarf, is actually a binary system consisting of two brown dwarfs orbiting each other. This revelation comes after nearly 30 years of confusion regarding the object's unusually low brightness compared to its mass. The two companions, Gliese 229Ba and Gliese 229Bb, were found to orbit each other every 12 days, maintaining a distance similar to that between Earth and the Moon. This discovery was made using advanced observational techniques at the Very Large Telescope in Chile and the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii. The initial discovery of Gliese 229B in 1995 marked a significant milestone in substellar astrophysics, as it was the first time a brown dwarf had been identified. However, its mass, estimated to be around 71 times that of Jupiter, raised questions about its luminosity, leading scientists to speculate that it might be a pair of faint stars. The recent observations confirmed this hypothesis, resolving the long-standing discrepancy between its mass and brightness. This finding not only clarifies the nature of Gliese 229B but also suggests that many other brown dwarfs may also exist in binary systems, potentially altering our understanding of their formation and characteristics. The research team plans to investigate other brown dwarfs to uncover more hidden companions, which could provide further insights into the formation of celestial bodies in the universe. The implications of this discovery extend beyond just Gliese 229B, as it opens up new avenues for research in the field of astrophysics, particularly in understanding the dynamics of binary systems and the prevalence of such configurations among brown dwarfs.