Eclipsing Binary Brown Dwarfs (Artist's Concept)

This is a schematic view of a pair of newly discovered brown dwarfs that are gravitationally linked together. The binary pair are too close to be resolved with present-day telescopes. This is an artistic oblique view of the system. In reality, the orbital plane is tilted edge-on to Earth such that the stars are seen eclipsing each other. Eclipsing binaries allow precise measurements of each companion star's mass, diameter, surface temperature, and intrinsic brightness.