Substellar Objects

Scene ‣ Milky Way ‣ Substellar Objects

Astronomers refer to an object that does not have enough mass to fuse hydrogen into helium—the fundamental quality of what it means to be a star—as a substellar object. This can include brown dwarfs, but can also include objects of planetary mass, like more massive Jupiters, for example. Typically, objects with a mass less than 0.08 the Sun’s mass fall into this category.