MIT astronomers spot a star slowly devouring its brown dwarf for billions of years

In the ZTF J0440+2325 system about 300 light-years away, a low-mass star is steadily pulling material from a brown dwarf companion. It is the first observed case of such slow consumption, which could last hundreds of thousands to billions of years. The study was published October 5 in Nature Astronomy.

• The ZTF J0440+2325 system lies roughly 300 light-years from Earth
• The brown dwarf orbits its star every 87 minutes
• The transfer of material could last from hundreds of thousands to billions of years
• The study appeared October 5 in Nature Astronomy