AN astronomer at Hatfield's University of Hertfordshire has discovered an "ultra-cool dwarf" - a companion to a giant star nearing the end of its life.
ZengHua Zhang, a Chinese astronomer studying for his phD in Hatfield, used images from telescopes in Hawaii and New Mexico to find the dwarf star, named Eta Cancri B.
Notable for its low temperature of less than 2,000 degrees, far below our own Sun's 6,000 degrees, it appears to be a hybrid between a star and a giant planet.
The new dwarf forms a pair with Eta Cancri, a red giant such as our Sun will become in 5 billion years, so Mr Zhang is studying their chemical composition together.
Professor David Pinfield, who is supervising Mr Zhang's phD, said: ""The power of these large scale sky surveys is yielding many fascinating low temperature discoveries, previously beyond our reach.
"Rare finds like Eta Cancri B provide a guiding light for our understanding of the complex atmospheres that enrobe the Sun's coolest neighbours as well as warm giant planets."
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