5

Lighter stars are more common than heavier stars, you'd think that this would make brown dwarfs more common than red dwarfs and yet they are less common by factors of a few. (e.g. see Table 5 of Scholz et al. 2012; see also https://physics.stackexchange.com/a/149721/43351 ), why is this?

blademan9999
  • 2,870
  • 1
    I'd imagine it has something to do with brown dwarf stars being harder to observe but maybe I am too unfamiliar with how they are spotted in the first place. Certainly more luminous stars are the easier to see. – Triatticus Jul 22 '23 at 18:37
  • 1
    Please edit your question such that it cites your sources. Give a book or article citation or link to a web page. Who is saying that brown dwarfs are less common than red dwarfs, and do they give any reason? – TimWescott Jul 22 '23 at 19:13
  • 3
    This is a research-level question without a definitive answer. (BTW iit is certainly true that red dwarfs outnumber brown dwarfs by factors of a few). – ProfRob Jul 22 '23 at 20:23
  • The linked paper is an observational census. Is it possible that the small number of brown dwarfs is due (at least partially) to observation bias (they're faint)? – Quillo Jul 30 '23 at 19:06
  • That wouldn’t follow for searches sufficiently close. – blademan9999 Jul 30 '23 at 19:12

0 Answers0