Brown dwarf: Scientists spot planet-like object that's hotter than the Sun

Artist's impression of how a brown dwarf might look

The universe is full of unusual objects and this latest discovery by scientists is certainly no different!

Researchers in Israel have spotted a super hot planet-like object called a brown dwarf.

Named WD0032-317B, it is located around 1,400 light years from Earth.

It circles so close to its host star that experts think its temperature is hotter than that of our Sun!

What have experts discovered?

Experts think the brown dwarf is hotter than the Sun

An international group of experts at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel found the brown dwarf orbiting WD0032-317, a white dwarf.

Because the brown dwarf orbits so close to its star, scientists think the planet-like object reaches around 8,000 Kelvin - that's a whopping 7,727 degrees Celsius!

That's much hotter than the surface of most stars - including that of the Sun, which is thought to be about 5,500 Kelvin or 5,200 degrees Celsius.

As well as being the hottest, the newly discovered object is also thought to be the most massive brown dwarf known to scientists with a mass estimated to be that of between 75 to 88 Jupiters!

What is a brown dwarf?

According to Nasa, brown dwarfs are failed stars.

They sit somewhere between the biggest planets and the smallest stars and astronomers think they cool as they age.

Nasa says: "Like the Sun and Jupiter, they are composed mainly of hydrogen gas, perhaps with swirling cloud belts.

"Unlike the Sun, they have no internal energy source and emit almost no visible light."

They appear very faint and their low temperature and lack of internal nuclear reactions make them tricky to detect.

Astronomers can usually only detect brown dwarfs closest to the Sun.