Brown dwarf

A brown dwarf was a stellar object that had characteristics of both a star and a gas giant. These objects lacked the mass to generate nuclear fusion but were hot enough to radiate energy at infrared wavelengths.

In 2152 the Enterprise NX-01 was on course to investigate a brown dwarf planetary system when the ship was infested by a symbiotic lifeform and the investigation was interrupted. (ENT: "Vox Sola")

The Finibus system contained a J Class brown dwarf, which in 2259 was in the process of being consumed by the system's black hole and was surrounded by a volatile gas cloud. In that year, the USS Enterprise, under the command of Captain Christopher Pike, used the brown dwarf's thick atmosphere to hide from three Gorn hunters and a destroyer; one hunter was crushed by the atmospheric pressure while attempting to pursue the Enterprise toward the dwarf's center. (SNW: "Memento Mori", "Hegemony, Part II")

According to Data in 2365, the abundance of dysprosium in a brown dwarf star was different than regular stars, when factored with terbium, holmium, erbium, and europium. (TNG: "Manhunt")

List of named brown dwarfs

Finibus brown dwarf

A brown dwarf in the Finibus system

A brown dwarf, as described by the Star Trek Encyclopedia, 4th ed., vol. 1, p. 108, was a "celestial object similar to a star, but with insufficient mass to generate a star's powerful nuclear reactions. Because a brown dwarf might glow with only feeble infrared light, it can be difficult to detect across interstellar distances."
Star systems with brown dwarves included 15 Sagittae, 81 Cancri, Beta Circini, Epsilon Indi, and Eta Coronae Borealis.

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