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Astronomers have discovered the most massive and "purest" known brown dwarf:
An international team of astronomers has identified a record breaking brown dwarf (a star too small for nuclear fusion) with the 'purest' composition and the highest mass yet known. The object, known as SDSS J0104+1535, is a member of the so-called halo -- the outermost reaches -- of our Galaxy, made up of the most ancient stars. The scientists report the discovery in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
[...] Located 750 light years away in the constellation of Pisces, SDSS J0104+1535 is made of gas that is around 250 times purer than the Sun, so consists of more than 99.99% hydrogen and helium. Estimated to have formed about 10 billion years ago, measurements also suggest it has a mass equivalent to 90 times that of Jupiter, making it the most massive brown dwarf found to date. It was previously not known if brown dwarfs could form from such primordial gas, and the discovery points the way to a larger undiscovered population of extremely pure brown dwarfs from our Galaxy's ancient past.
Primeval very low-mass stars and brown dwarfs – II. The most metal-poor substellar object (open, DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stx350) (DX)
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday March 27 2017, @02:28AM (1 child)
That should be about 83 Jupiter masses. Which means some brown dwarfs have larger masses than the smallest red dwarfs.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2, Informative) by laserfusion on Monday March 27 2017, @08:49PM
TRAPPIST-1 is also smaller than this brown dwarf, at 84 Jupiter masses [wikipedia.org].
The TFA says that the metallicity of a brown dwarf affects the minimum mass for hydrogen fusion. That's one reason for the overlap between brown dwarf and red dwarf sizes.