Asked by: Bob, via sciencefocus.com
In 2017, an international team of astronomers announced the discovery of a so-called red dwarf star that’s so small it barely functions as a star. Code-named EBLM J0555-57Ab and lying some 600 light-years away, it’s similar in size to the planet Saturn. It has just enough mass to maintain the conditions needed to fuse together nuclei of hydrogen – the power source of stars like the Sun. Any smaller, and it would have become a brown dwarf – a ‘failed star’.
Subscribe to BBC Focus magazine for fascinating new Q&As every month and follow @sciencefocusQA on Twitter for your daily dose of fun facts.
Authors
Robert is a science writer and visiting professor of science at Aston University. He likes maths, West End musicals and hamsters.
