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Originally posted by article
A "brown dwarf" star that appears to be the coldest of its kind -- as frosty as Earth's North Pole -- has been discovered by a Penn State University astronomer using NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and Spitzer Space Telescopes. Images from the space telescopes also pinpointed the object's distance at 7.2 light-years away, making it the fourth closest system to our Sun. It is very exciting to discover a new neighbor of our solar system that is so close. In addition, its extreme temperature should tell us a lot about the atmospheres of planets, which often have similarly cold temperatures."

Brown dwarfs start their lives like stars, as collapsing balls of gas, but they lack the mass to burn nuclear fuel and radiate starlight. The newfound coldest brown dwarf, named WISE J085510.83-071442.5, has a chilly temperature between -54 and 9 degrees Fahrenheit. Previous record holders for coldest brown dwarfs were about room temperature. WISE J085510.83-071442.5 is estimated to be 3 to 10 times the mass of Jupiter. If so, it is one of the least massive brown dwarfs known.

"It is remarkable that even after many decades of studying the sky, we still do not have a complete inventory of the Sun's nearest neighbors. This exciting new result demonstrates the power of exploring the universe using new tools, such as the infrared eyes of WISE and Spitzer."

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I heard this idea today that dark matter may very well be accounted for, since this discovery gives more evidence to the idea that brown (and red) dwarfs are freaking everywhere. If they are so common, maybe there's not so much missing gravity as thought?

I haven't read much more about this, and my gut tells me it's a long shot, but I really just want to get rid of dark matter, as it doesn't sit well with me.