The “before” and “after” comparison of the number of known brown dwarfs orbiting other stars. For each of the 41 close-in brown dwarf companions detected previously, the left panel shows the distance to its host star. The right panel shows the 112 brown dwarfs discovered in the new study. In both panels, the sizes of the brown dwarfs indicate their masses, and the circle shows the distance to Earth’s orbit. The larger dot (yellow or red) in the center of each panel represents the host star (not to scale). All the companions were discovered in different systems; they are shown together for comparison only.
N. Troup (Univ. of Virginia) and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey