Fastest-spinning brown-dwarf star is detected by its bursts of radio waves

(Penn State) Astronomers have detected what may be the most rapidly rotating, ultra-cool, brown-dwarf star ever seen. The super-fast rotation period was measured by using the 305-meter Arecibo radio telescope -- the same telescope that was used to discover the first planets ever found outside our solar system. The detection emphasizes Arecibo's amazing sensitivity, which has the potential to measure the magnetic fields, which protect life, of potentially habitable planets around other stars.