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Stars nearly as old as Sun found to have similar spin rates

Astrophysicists from Germany and America have for the first time measured the rotation periods of stars in a cluster nearly as old as the Sun. It turns out that these stars spin once in about twenty-six days — just like our Sun. This discovery significantly strengthens what is known as the solar-stellar connection, a fundamental principle that guides much of modern solar and stellar astrophysics.

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Where are the missing brown dwarfs?

Brown dwarfs are objects that are too large to be called planets, yet too small to shine by nuclear fusion. Two German researchers have taken a careful look at the distribution of nearby examples of these “failed stars” and to their surprise discovered a significant asymmetry in their spatial arrangement.