Stephen,
Good counter-point to Robin's suggestion of a young age. A younger
object would most likely have to be made-up of 2nd or 3rd generation
super-nova debris, and therefore it couldn't be both pure and young.
If we go back to the implications of there being a previously unknown
population of "old and pure but never ignited" big planets (large brown
dwarfs) then that collection of features seems to provide evidence that
the real anomaly is to be found in the smaller, hotter objects... which
cannot be heated by hydrogen fusion reactions, at least not the kind
that power our sun.
However, if dusty plasma LENR is not happening - it is possible that
these small stars (smallest red dwarfs) have a heavy metal core which
provides nuclear heat by decay or some other mechanism, without
significant hydrogen fusion. A core rich in unstable elements like
actinide isotopes could be responsible but would probably be short-lived
and require a mechanism to prevent a critical mass event.
Stephen Cooke wrote:
Very interesting find thanks for that. I'm definitely all curious now.
Is it right the larger object is almost pure Hydrogen this is very
curious for a young object.
Or is it a small a very old 1st generation object from primordial gas?
The implications that dusty plasma may play a role in later generation
objects sufficient to cause Stella like heating is fascinating.
I do wonder if the smaller bright object could be a white dwarf that
has acquired new material some how but still in sufficient to form a nova.
Interesting
Stephen
Jones Beene wrote:
The smallest known star that astronomers have found is named
OGLE-TR-122b. Its radius is accurately measured at 167,000 km. That
makes it 20% larger than planet Jupiter but like most stars, it is
radiating energy in a way which indicates that nuclear fusion has
been underway for billions of years, presumably converting hydrogen
into helium like our sun, only less of it, and at longer wavelength,
due to the small size.
Yet today, without reference to the presence of any small star, the
science news is reporting a much larger dim object has been found,
not a star and more like a planet, which is 90 times more massive
than Jupiter. This object is not undergoing nuclear fusion. It is
called SDSS J0104+1535 and consists of more than 99.99% hydrogen and
helium but without nuclear ignition, despite the enormous gravity.
It is not clear that "high purity" is an actual parameter which
prohibits it from going nuclear, since it makes little sense that so
much hydrogen would not ignite, as happens in the much smaller star,
due to the Lawson criteria if nothing else. There is such a massive
disparity in the energy released from the smaller and hotter object,
compared to the much larger colder object- that great doubt is cast
on many assumptions relative to nuclear fusion at the cosmological
scale.
Does LENR have a place in this picture?
The smaller, dirtier and much hotter object may be undergoing
energetic reactions which are not the same as fusion in our sun, for
instance. If it is less pure, then much of that impurity would be
iron and nickel - just like many meteorites. Notably these two metals
are catalysts for LENR.
I would be willing to bet that not a single reputable astronomer will
bring up this possibility - that the smallest stars could be powered
by LENR instead of hot fusion, but can we rule out the possibility ?
Is there a better explanation for the strange picture which has been
presented above?
.
