Luhman 16 A

“I understand. You don’t actually care for me. You just stand next to me because it makes you look brighter by comparison.”

The Luhman 16 binary consists of two young brown dwarfs just trying to navigate their place in the universe, wondering who they have other than each other. As the more massive of the two, Luhman 16 A is the one usually calling the shots. Being overlooked and rejected by everyone around him has given him a stormy outlook on life, but he welcomes his volatile nature. After all, red dwarfs, real stars, are known for being temperamental. Yet despite his anger toward strangers and even potential friends, in the presence of his partner he transforms into a lovesick mess. When the two are together, Luhman 16 A will almost forget about his quest to be recognized, and just allow himself to enjoy the moment. These moments don’t last. Sooner or later, he’ll be back to trying to get the attention of his stellar neighbors. He grew up mocked by the “real” stars in his birth cluster, teased for being too small, for being a failure, for being unable to just work harder gathering hydrogen, as if his situation was his fault. He tried to imitate the red dwarfs around him, copying their mannerisms, hoping to blend in with them. He encouraged his partner to do the same, though perhaps due to his lower mass, he was less willing. At least through his days of playing copycat, Luhman 16 A did meet some genuine friends, yet he had and continues to have trouble trusting them. The motion of him and his partner led them to become neighbors with a certain feisty yet overlooked red dwarf, Proxima Centauri. From there Luhman 16 AB became quick friends with the rest of Proxima’s system. Though Luhman 16 B quickly warmed up to these three new stellar friends, Luhman 16 A continues to believe that Rigil Kentaurus, Toliman, and especially Proxima only hang out with him and his partner because it makes them seem brighter by comparison. He dreamed of befriending the infamous Sol Helios Galaxy, hoping he would become fascinated with him, but Sol took so long just to notice him that he’s all but given up on that hope. 

Physical Appearance

250 cm (8’2”) tall. Endomorph, with high fat and slight muscle. Round face. Dark brown skin tone with reddish undertones, red “veins” visible throughout his face and body. Round orangish red eyes. Large wide nose. Tight curly/coily deep red hair that stops just above his shoulders, parted at the top. Usually wears a light pinkish orange shirt, a dark red-pink and light red-pink striped coat with dark red-pink lapels and deep red faux fur, dark orangish red pants with orange vertical stripes, and deep reddish brown sneakers with magenta soles and laces. 

Design Notes

So, for brown dwarfs I basically thought “What would happen if I mashed the designs of red dwarfs and gas giants together?” But seriously, brown dwarfs are around Jupiter-sized, so their Celestials have similar heights to Jupiter but much higher body masses. Like so many stars (and brown dwarfs), Luhman 16 A’s design works to incorporate some edge despite being composed of round shapes. As an L-type brown dwarf, his color scheme consists mostly of deep reds, with some orange (for the hotter end of class L) and pink (for the cooler end). His eyes, following the trend of being the closest to the “true” color of the star or substar, are orange-red. His hair is a deeper red both because Luhman 16 A is cooler than a red dwarf and because it is dimmer. Brown dwarfs have star veins, but they are thin and constrict with time, eventually fading as the brown dwarf cools. One vein on his neck forms a “W” for WISE. His coat is modeled off of Jupiter’s and is similarly striped to represent bands in the brown dwarf’s atmosphere. The fur has two-fold symbolism. Brown dwarfs emit mostly infrared, which is associated with thermal radiation and heat on Earth (though that’s more a testament to how cold Earth is compared to a star), and brown dwarfs are cooler than bona fide stars. The rest of his outfit is meant to be casual and make him look like a young college student. The rippled edge of his shirt represents brown dwarfs being fully convective like red dwarfs. His shoes are mostly brown in reference to the name “brown dwarf”, despite brown dwarfs not being brown.

-Don't whitewash him!

-His star veins are not optional.

-Don't forget the stripes on his coat.