A group of scientists from "Project 1640" and funded by the National Scienc Foundation have discovered a Brown Dwarf orbiting Alcor in Ursa Major.
Using a new technique they determined the dwarf star has an orbital period of about 90 years and has about 250 Jupiter masses (about one-quarter the sun's mass). Alcor was a star Galileo tried to determine parallax to for the purpose of proving the Capernicum theory that the earth orbits the sun.
Unfortunately Galileo's equipment did not have the accuracy to make these measurements.
I enjoy new discoveries like this - the "right under your nose" kind.
Mike
