Question

A 2024 Nature paper by Jerry Xuan et al. identified one of these objects as a close binary; that first one of these objects to be spectroscopically confirmed was discovered by a team including Shrinivas Kulkarni and Rebecca Oppenheimer. The top-left corner of a mass-period plot, known as their “desert,” (10[1])contains (10[1])unexpectedly few of these objects. A strong 2-micron (-5[1])methane absorption band, (-5[1])as observed by the 2MASS survey, (10[1])is exemplified by (10[1])Gliese 229B, the (-5[1])prototypical (-5[2])example of the T spectral type. These degenerate objects are spectroscopically distinguished from M (10[1])stars by the presence of lithium. (10[1])These (10[2])objects can fuse deuterium despite being (10[1])lighter (-5[1])than the (10[1])0.08 (10[1])solar masses required to initiate (-5[1])p-p chain (10[1])fusion. The very bottom right of the H–R diagram contains, for 10 points, what substellar objects, (10[1])often called “failed (10[1])stars”? (10[1])■END■ (10[9])

ANSWER: brown dwarf stars [or brown dwarfs; accept brown dwarf desert or methane brown dwarfs; prompt on dwarf stars; prompt on failed stars or stars until read]
<Other Science>
= Average correct buzz position

Summary

2025 ACF Nationals04/19/2025Y24100%0%29%109.08

Buzzes

PlayerTeamOpponentBuzz PositionValue
William GrogerColumbia BMaryland4910
Richard NiuCornell ATexas5010
Jonathan HuangMITToronto C58-5
June YinWUSTL BPenn State61-5
Liam KusalikWaterloo AUC Berkeley A6710
Rasheeq AzadNorth Carolina AColumbia A7010
James Ah YongWaterloo BOttawa73-5
Vinu HariharUC Berkeley BArizona State74-5
Allan LeeStanfordToronto A74-5
Shardul RaoMinnesotaChicago B8810
Andrew WangIllinois AIndiana9410
Alan XieYaleGeorgia State9510
David BassJohns HopkinsGeorgia Tech9510
Charles HangWUSTL ANorthwestern10110
Gavin MarkoffVanderbiltWinona State102-5
Matthew WangBritish ColumbiaLSE10410
John MarvinChicago ARutgers10510
Orion KellerVirginia TechIowa State110-5
Leo LawFloridaNYU11210
Shiva TegullaUCFCornell B12810
Yashwanth BajjiMichiganVirginia13110
Calvin BostlemanOhio StateNorth Carolina B13210
Henry BonWinona StateVanderbilt13310
Shardul ParthasarathyIllinois BRIT13310
Benjamin ChapmanToronto AStanford13310
Joey SunToronto BHarvard13310
Marcus Forbes-GreenToronto CMIT13310
Bryan UgazArizona StateUC Berkeley B13310
Teigue KellyPenn StateWUSTL B13310
Conor ThompsonIowa StateVirginia Tech13310
Colin VeeversOttawaWaterloo B13310