Odd orbits shed light on identity of objects that are half-star, half-planet

To most of us, the difference between a star and a planet is pretty clear. But officially it’s surprisingly murky, thanks to a middle-ground celestial object known as a brown dwarf, which could be classed as either the largest possible planets or the smallest possible stars. Now astronomers from Heidelberg University have found evidence of brown dwarfs forming like planets, as opposed to stars.

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