Their eponymous "desert" is a gap in the mass function for close companions to solar-type stars. One of the first to be detected was Gleise 229B, which shows methane bands and is the prototype of the T class. An important diagnostic for these objects is the lithium test, which relies on the fact that even late-type M class objects fuse their lithium fairly quickly. The lar
Their eponymous "desert" is a gap in the mass function for close companions to solar-type stars. One of the first to be detected was Gleise 229B, which shows methane bands and is the prototype of the T class. An important diagnostic for these objects is the lithium test, which relies on the fact that even late-type M class objects fuse their lithium fairly quickly. The largest of these objects are found in the L spectral class, cooler than the M stars at the bottom of the main sequence. Ranging in mass from about 15 to 80 Jupiter masses, FTP name these "failed stars" which never achieve hydrogen fusion.
Their eponymous "desert" is a gap in the mass function for close companions to solar-type stars.