These are Hubble Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) Camera 1 images of 2M1207's giant planetary companion candidate at three increasingly longer near-infrared wavelengths [left to right: 0.9, 1.1, and 1.6 microns]. The light from 2M1207 itself has been greatly reduced by subtracting a second image of the star taken with Hubble rolled to a different orientation in the sky. Imperfections in the "differential roll" subtraction technique give rise to optical artifacts at the location of 2M1207, which is centered in the red circle of 0.2 arc second radius. The giant planetary companion candidate is the white disk located outside and to the lower right of the red circle. 2M1207, a young brown dwarf of spectral type M8.5, is itself quite red - 11 times fainter at 0.9 microns than it is at 1.6 microns. The giant planetary companion candidate at 0.9 microns is significantly redder in comparison, 44 times fainter at 0.9 microns than it is at 1.6 microns where, at that shorter wavelength, it is also 720 times fainter than 2M1207.
Credits
NASA, ESA, G. Schneider (Steward Observ., Univ. of Arizona), I. Song (Gemini Observ.), B. Zuckerman, E. Becklin (Univ. of California, Los Angeles), P. Lowrance (California Inst. of Technology), B. Macintosh (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory), M. Bessell (Australian National Univ.), and C. Dumas and G. Chauvin (European Southern Observ.)| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | 2M1207, 2MASSWJ 1207334-393254 |
| Object Description | Brown Dwarf with Companion |
| R.A. Position | 12h 7m 33.46s |
| Dec. Position | -39° 32' 53.99" |
| Constellation | Hydra |
| Distance | 225 light-years away (70 parsecs) |
| Dimensions | This image is 2.5 arcseconds wide. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | The Hubble image was created from HST data from proposal . The science team is composed of: NASA, ESA, G. Schneider (Steward Observatory, Univ. of Arizona), I. Song (Gemini Observ.), B. Zuckerman, E. Becklin (Univ. of California, Los Angeles), P. Lowrance (California Inst. of Technology), B. Macintosh (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory), M. Bessell (Australian National Univ.), and C. Dumas and G. Chauvin (European Southern Observ.). |
| Instrument | HST>NICMOS |
| Exposure Dates | August 2004 |
| Filters | F090M (0.80-1.00 microns), F110M (1.00-1.20 microns), F160W (1.40-1.80 microns) |
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object. |
| Object Description | The type of astronomical object. |
| R.A. Position | Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Dec. Position | Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Constellation | One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears. |
| Distance | The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs. |
| Dimensions | The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description |
|
| Instrument | The science instrument used to produce the data. |
| Exposure Dates | The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time. |
| Filters | The camera filters that were used in the science observations. |
| About The Image | |
| Image Credit | The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content. |
| Publication Date | The date and time the release content became public. |
| Color Info | A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented. |
| Orientation | The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere. |
