What is the eventual fate of a brown dwarf?
A)It remains the same forever.
B)It gradually cools down and becomes ever dimmer.
C)It gradually contracts and heats up until nuclear fusion ignites in its interior and it becomes a faint star.
D)It becomes ever denser and hotter until it becomes a white dwarf.
E)Gravity ultimately "wins" and it becomes a small black hole.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Brown dwarfs do not have enough mass to ignite nuclear reactions in their cores, so they gradually cool down and become dimmer over time.

Note: Option C is also technically correct, but it only applies to a small subset of brown dwarfs that are massive enough to ignite fusion. The majority of brown dwarfs will follow the cooling pathway described in option B.

What Is the Eventual Fate of a Brown Dwarf