MIT Astronomers Observe Slow Consumption of Brown Dwarf by Nearby Star

A team of MIT astronomers has identified a peculiar star system roughly 300 light‑years from Earth in which a small star is gradually devouring a neighboring brown dwarf. Brown dwarfs occupy the mass range between planets and true stars, making them too massive to be planets yet too small to sustain hydrogen fusion. Unlike the rapid engulfment seen in many binary systems, this star is slowly accreting material from the brown dwarf, a process that could persist for billions of years. The finding provides a rare window into long‑term accretion dynamics and the evolutionary fate of substellar companions.