Labels:text | screenshot | font | number OCR: FACT FILE .................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BROWN DWARFS ARE not really stars but failed stars. They heat up and shine dimly as gravity forces them to contract. A brown dwarf contains less than 8 percent of the Sun's mass, however, and this is insufficient mass for gravitational contraction to continue until nuclear reactions take place. Without nuclear reactions, brown dwarfs cannot shine as brightly as stars. Because brown dwarfs shine so dimly, it was not until 1995 that one was first detected.
