Scientists have discovered the smallest star (to date). Using the 8.2m Very Large Telescope (VLT) telescope at ESO Paranal Observatory, Chile, the star (named OGLE-TR-122b) which is only 16% larger than Jupiter, was identified during analysis of data gathered during the planet-hunting OGLE project. The star has a sun-like companion, OGLE-TR-122, which dims as the smaller star passes in front of it once a week. This allowed the scientists to measure the mass, radius, and other properties of this small star.

Smallest of them all (Courtesy: The Register)The star weighs at 96 times Jupiter's mass, whereas a minimum of 75 times Jupiter is required for nuclear fusion to begin, and a star to form. This is the first time scientists have observed a star with a radius comparable to a planet. But it isn't the least massive. That honour goes to a star (AB Doradus A, 48 light years away, 50 million years old) just 93 times Jupiter's mass, announced early in 2005 by the University of Arizona. But, because that lightweight's transit of a companion object is not visible from Earth, its size is unknown.