It also had lithium, and so was clearly a brown dwarf.

它也含有锂，显然是一颗褐矮星。

Well, it didn't take long before more brown dwarfs were found.

没过多久，人们就发现了更多的褐矮星。

So what's the difference between a small brown dwarf and a really big planet?

那么一颗小褐矮星和一颗大行星有什么区别呢？

I became so intrigued by it I wound up studying low mass stars and brown dwarfs for several years after.

我对它非常感兴趣，在那之后的几年里，我开始研究小质量恒星和褐矮星。

Brown dwarfs put out a lot of light in the intermediate wavelength WISE sees, so weirdly, they appear green in WISE pictures.

褐矮星发出了很多在 WISE 中所能看到的中间波长的光，奇怪的是，它们在 WISE 的图片中呈现为绿色。

For example, as I said before, brown dwarfs over 65 times Jupiter's mass fuse lithium.

例如，我之前说过，比木星质量大65倍多的褐矮星会融合锂。

Brown dwarfs lighter than about 65 times the mass of Jupiter wouldn't fuse lithium at all.

褐矮星比木星质量的65倍还要轻，它根本不会聚变锂。

Others say that massive compact halo objects (aka MACHOs) , brown dwarfs or black holes make up the dark matter.

还有人说，是晕族大质量致密天体(又名MACHO)、褐矮星或黑洞构成了暗物质。

Astronomers began using it to look for actual, real brown dwarfs.

天文学家开始以此来寻找真正的棕矮星。

It found hundreds of brown dwarfs, and now at least 2000 are known, with more found all the time.

它发现了数百颗褐矮星，现在已知的至少有2000颗，而且还一直在发现更多的褐矮星。

The physical nature of brown dwarfs is just as weird as you'd expect.

褐矮星的物理性质正如你所预料的那样怪异。

The very first true brown dwarf had been found.

第一个真正的褐矮星被发现了。

At only about three to 10 times the mass of Jupiter, this WISE guy is small even for a brown dwarf.

这颗仅比木星大两倍到九倍的恒星和普通的褐矮星相比算是个“小不点”。

That would provide a test to distinguish brown dwarfs from regular stars!

这将可能成为一个区分棕矮星和普通恒星的方法！

So if brown dwarfs aren't brown, what color are they?

如果褐矮星不褐色的，那它们是什么颜色呢？

It seems unlikely, but no more unlikely than the existence of brown dwarfs themselves.

这似乎不太可能，但并不比褐矮星本身的存在更不可能。

Occasional collisions between Brown Dwarfs could continue to create new red dwarf stars in this era, but they will be extremely rare.

在这个时代，棕矮星之间的偶然碰撞可能会继续产生新的红矮星，但这种情况极为罕见。

In 2013, astronomers announced the discovery of a binary pair of brown dwarfs, called Luhman 16.

2013年，天文学家宣布发现了一对棕矮星，名为 Luhman 16。

A low-mass brown dwarf, it was determined, would have lithium in it, whereas normal stars wouldn't.

据确定，一颗小质量的褐矮星会含有锂元素，而普通恒星则不会。

Worse yet, when brown dwarfs are first born they're very hot.

更糟糕的是，棕矮星刚诞生时温度很高。