NASA's SPHEREx Telescope Sees Menagerie of Brown Dwarfs

NASA's SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer) space telescope has revealed new findings about brown dwarfs, celestial objects that share characteristics with both stars and exoplanets. New findings published in The Astrophysical Journal indicate that these dimly glowing balls of warm gas possess chemically rich atmospheres, similar to giant planets in our solar system. Brown dwarfs form from collapsing gas clouds but lack sufficient mass to sustain hydrogen fusion.