Brown Dwarf, 2M1207
Artificial-color Hubble Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) infrared-light view of the brown dwarf star 2MASSWJ 1207334-393254 (aka 2M1207) and giant planet companion candidate. The possible companion, estimated to be about five times the mass of Jupiter, is the magenta colored spot at lower right. The brown dwarf's location is within the circle at image centre. The glare of the dwarf, which is 700 times brighter than the planet candidate (as seen at Hubble's near-infrared sensitivity) has been greatly reduced through image processing of NICMOS pictures taken at different Hubble orientations. In this picture the dwarf and candidate planet are at a minimum distance of 8 billion kilometers apart. Further observations will be needed to confirm that the two objects are gravitationally bound. The red, green, and blue colors correspond to infrared wavelengths of (, , and microns respectively). At a temperature of only 1000 degrees Celsius, the candidate companion object appears very red in the NICMOS images. 2M1207b, may be the first extrasolar planetary-mass companion to be directly imaged, and is the first discovered orbiting a brown dwarf. Release date January 10, 2005.
Size: 3750px × 3750px
Photo credit: © Photo Researchers / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: -brown, 1207334-393254, 2000s, 2005, 21st, 2m1207, 2m1207a, 2m1207b, 2masswj, astronomical, astronomy, body, brown, camera, celestial, century, companion, deep, dwarf, extrasolar, heavenly, image, infrared, multi-object, nicmos, object, planemo, planetary, planetary-mass, pmo, science, sky, space, spectrometer, substar, substellar
