PIA13216: Cool as a Stellar Cucumber
 Mission:  Spitzer Space Telescope
 Instrument:  IRAC
 Product Size:  556 x 556 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  IPAC-Caltech
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA13216.tif (928.8 kB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA13216.jpg (24.19 kB)

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Original Caption Released with Image:

This image shows what astronomers think is one of the coldest brown dwarfs discovered so far (red dot in middle of frame). The object, called SDWFS J143524.44+335334.6, is one of 14 such brown dwarfs found by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope using infrared light. Follow-up observations are required to nail down this "failed" star's temperature, but rough estimates put this particular object at about 600 Kelvin (620 degrees Fahrenheit).

In this image, infrared light with a wavelength of 3.6 microns is color-coded blue; 4.5-micron light is red. The brown dwarf shows up prominently in red because methane is absorbing the 3.6-micron, or blue-coded, light.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech

Image Addition Date:
2010-06-24