SMRTR Science & EngineeringOct 1, 2025Interesting Engineering

James Webb observes a sunless world that produces surprisingly intense auroras

SMRTR summary

The James Webb Space Telescope studied SIMP-0136, a "failed star" called a brown dwarf floating freely through space 20 light-years away, and discovered it produces auroras far brighter than Earth's northern lights despite having no sun. The rogue world's powerful magnetic field interacts with charged particles from interstellar space to create these intense auroras, heating its upper atmosphere to temperatures 570 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than expected.

SMRTR provides this summary for quick context. The original article belongs to Interesting Engineering.

Read the original article
SMRTR Science & Engineering

Get the next batch of curated summaries in your inbox.

This archive is built from SMRTR newsletter summaries. Subscribe for hand-picked stories without the extra noise.