This is a list of brown dwarfs. These are objects that have masses between heavy gas giants and low-mass

star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

s. The first isolated brown dwarf discovered was

Teide 1 Teide 1 was the first brown dwarf to be verified, in 1995. It is located in the Pleiades open star cluster, approximately from Earth. This object is more massive than a planet (), but less massive than a star (0.0544 MSun). The radius ...

in 1995. The first brown dwarf discovered orbiting a star was

Gliese 229 Gliese 229 (also written as Gl 229 or GJ 229) is a binary system composed of a red dwarf and the first brown dwarf seen by astronomers, 18.8 light years away in the constellation Lepus. The primary component has 58% of the mass of the S ...

B, also discovered in 1995. The first brown dwarf found to have a planet was

2M1207 2M1207, 2M1207A or 2MASSW J12073346–3932539 is a brown dwarf located in the constellation Centaurus; a companion object, 2M1207b, may be the first extrasolar planetary-mass companion to be directly imaged, and is the first discovered ...

, discovered in 2004. , more than 2,800 brown dwarfs have been identified. An isolated object with less than about 13 Jupiter masses is technically a

sub-brown dwarf A sub-brown dwarf or planetary-mass brown dwarf is an astronomical object that formed in the same manner as stars and brown dwarfs (i.e. through the collapse of a gas cloud) but that has a planetary mass, therefore by definition below the limi ...

or rogue planet. Because the mass of a brown dwarf is between that of a planet and that of a

, they have also been called planetars or

hyperjovian A super-Jupiter is a gas giant exoplanet that is more massive than the planet Jupiter. For example, companions at the planet–brown dwarf borderline have been called super-Jupiters, such as around the star Kappa Andromedae. By 2011 there were ...

s. Various catalog designations have been used to name brown dwarfs. Brown dwarfs with names ending in a letter such as B, C, or D are in orbit around a primary star; those with names ending in a lower-case letter such as b, c, or d, may be

exoplanet An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917 but was not recognized as such. The first confirmation of detection occurred in 1992. A different planet, init ...

s (see

Exoplanet naming convention The exoplanet naming convention is an extension of the system used for naming multiple-star systems as adopted by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). For exoplanets orbiting a single star, the name is normally formed by taking the name of i ...

). Some exoplanets, especially those detected by

radial velocity The radial velocity or line-of-sight velocity, also known as radial speed or range rate, of a target with respect to an observer is the temporal rate of change, rate of change of the distance or Slant range, range between the two points. It is e ...

, can turn out to be brown dwarfs if their mass is higher than originally thought: most have only known minimum masses because the inclination of their orbit is not known. Examples include

HD 114762 b HD 114762 b is a small red dwarf star, in the HD 114762 system, formerly thought to be a gas giant, massive gaseous exoplanet, extrasolar planet, approximately away in the constellation of Coma Berenices. This optically undetected compani ...

(>11.68 M_J),

Pi Mensae b Pi Mensae b (π Men b, π Mensae b), also known as HD 39091 b, is an extrasolar planet approximately 59 light-years away in the constellation of Mensa. The planet was announced orbiting the yellow main-sequence star Pi Mensae in October 2001. ...

(>10.312 M_J), and NGC 2423-3 b (>10.6 M_J).

Confirmed brown dwarfs orbiting primary stars

''Sorted by increasing

right ascension Right ascension (abbreviated RA; symbol ) is the angular distance of a particular point measured eastward along the celestial equator from the Sun at the March equinox to the (hour circle of the) point in question above the earth. When paired w ...

of the parent star. Brown dwarfs within a system sorted by increasing orbital period.'' ''Some brown dwarfs listed could still be massive planets.''

Unconfirmed brown dwarfs

''Sorted by increasing

of the parent star. Brown dwarfs within a system sorted by increasing orbital period.'' ''Some brown dwarfs listed could still be massive planets.''

Field brown dwarfs

''Data updated from and merged from previous tables''

Former brown dwarfs

References

External links