L1014 is a
dark nebula in the
Cygnus constellation. It may be among the most centrally condensed small dark clouds known, perhaps indicative of the earliest stages of
star formation processes. This cloud harbors at its core a very young low-mass
star named
L1014 IRS; some astronomers have suggested that this object may be a
brown dwarf
Brown dwarfs (also called failed stars) are substellar objects that are not massive enough to sustain nuclear fusion of ordinary hydrogen ( 1H) into helium in their cores, unlike a main-sequence star. Instead, they have a mass between the most ...
or even a
rogue planet
A rogue planet (also termed a free-floating planet (FFP), interstellar, nomad, orphan, starless, unbound or wandering planet) is an interstellar object of planetary-mass, therefore smaller than fusors (stars and brown dwarfs) and without a h ...
at the earliest stage of its lifetime.
References
External links
The Starless Core That Isn't// Spitzer Image, Release Date: 11/09/04
// NASA 11.09.04
Cygnus (constellation)
Dark nebulae
{{nebula-stub