Astronomers Unveil Twin Brown Dwarfs Solving Decades-Old Mystery

New observations reveal that Gliese 229B, once thought to be a single brown dwarf, is actually a pair of tightly orbiting celestial bodies.

Gliese 229B, discovered in 1995, was the first confirmed brown dwarf but puzzled scientists due to its unexpected dimness.
Recent studies using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope identified it as two brown dwarfs, Gliese 229Ba and Gliese 229Bb.
The brown dwarfs orbit each other every 12 days and are about 38 and 34 times the mass of Jupiter, aligning with expected brightness levels.
This discovery resolves the discrepancy between Gliese 229B's mass and luminosity, enhancing our understanding of brown dwarfs.
The finding raises new questions about the formation of brown dwarf pairs and suggests more such binaries might exist in space.