Kelu-1 is a system of two brown dwarfs of spectral types L2 and L4 located in constellation Hydra at approximately 60.6 light-years from Earth. It is among the first free-floating later-than-M-type brown dwarfs discovered, and sometimes considered as prototype of L-type brown dwarfs.
Kelu 1 with NICMOS, The A component is on the lower left.
Brown dwarfs are substellar objects that have more mass than the biggest gas giant planets, but less than the least massive main-sequence stars. Their mass is approximately 13 to 80 times that of Jupiter (MJ)—not big enough to sustain nuclear fusion of ordinary hydrogen (1H) into helium in their cores, but massive enough to emit some light and heat from the fusion of deuterium (2H). The most massive ones can fuse lithium (7Li).
Artist's concept of a T-type brown dwarf
The smaller object is Gliese 229B, about 20 to 50 times the mass of Jupiter, orbiting the star Gliese 229. It is in the constellation Lepus, about 19 light-years from Earth.
Planets, brown dwarfs, stars (not to scale)
A size comparison between the Sun, a young sub-brown dwarf, and Jupiter. As the sub-brown dwarf ages, it will gradually cool and shrink.