NASA-International Space Station

An international team of astronomers using several telescopes has revealed what appears to be the coolest star-like body known, a brown dwarf called SDSS1416+13B. The faint ball of gas is roughly 400 degrees Fahrenheit (200 degrees Celsius). NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope helped nail down the warmth of the object by observing at a meticulous range of light called mid-infrared.

Too small to be stars, brown dwarfs have masses inferior than stars but larger than gas-giant planets like Jupiter. Due to their low temperature, these objects are very weak in visible light, and are detected by their glow at infrared wavelengths. They were initially dubbed "brown dwarfs" long before any were actually exposed, to describe bodies that are cooler, fainter and redder than "red dwarf" stars, with the color brown representing the mix of red and black.