Using NASA’s SPHEREx spacecraft, astronomers have taken a closer look at brown dwarfs — mysterious celestial bodies that sit awkwardly between the definitions of stars and planets.

Often referred to as “failed stars,” these objects form from collapsing gas clouds like stars but lack the mass required to sustain hydrogen nuclear fusion. Because they drift independently through the cosmos without a host star, fading slowly into darkness, researchers described them as “kind of goth”.