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Unique. That’s what you are.⁣ ⁣ Not quite stars, not quite planets — brown dwarfs are objects that fall in between. Within the star cluster shown in this image, NASAWebb observed the tiniest, free-floating brown dwarf ever discovered.⁣ ⁣ Webb’s sharp infrared eye found this record-breaking brown dwarf in star cluster IC 348, which is about 1000 light-years away and only 5 million years old.⁣ ⁣ Studying brown dwarfs helps us understand star formation as well as exoplanets, or planets beyond our solar system. Not only is there overlap between the smallest brown dwarfs and the largest exoplanets, free-floating brown dwarfs come with no stars attached — unlike exoplanets, which can be hidden in the glare of their host stars.⁣ ⁣ But brown dwarfs aren’t the only free agents in space. Could this discovery be of an uncommon “rogue planet” instead? It’s unlikely: The surrounding stars are both young and low-mass, so they probably could not have produced and then ejected a giant planet in su...

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