This pair of NASA Hubble Space Telescope images of the binary brown dwarf Kelu-1 trace the orbital motion of the two stars over a seven-year span as photographed by the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) on Hubble.
In 1998, the "stars" were too close together to be resolved by Hubble. By 2005, they had moved apart to a separation of 520 million miles. The projected maximum separation is 550 million miles.
Binary systems allow astronomers to estimate the mass of companion objects. The brown dwarfs are 61 and 50 times the mass of Jupiter. They are therefore too small to burn as stars, but too large to have formed as planets. Based on the total estimated mass of the system, astronomers suspect there is a third brown dwarf member that has not yet been resolved.
Credits
NASA, ESA, and M. Stumpf (Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy)| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | Kelu-1 AB, Kelu |
| Object Description | Binary Brown Dwarf System |
| R.A. Position | 13h 5m 40.18s |
| Dec. Position | -25° 41' 6.0" |
| Constellation | Centaurus |
| Distance | 61 light-years (18.7 parsecs) |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | This image was created from HST data from proposals : E. Martin (Institute for Astrophysics, Canary Islands) and G. Basri (University of California, Berkeley); and : W. Brandner, E. Masciadri, and V. Joergens (Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg), R. Koehler (Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory, Heidelberg), M. Kasper (European Southern Observatory, Germany), and H. Bouy (Institute for Astrophysics, Canary Islands). M. Stumpf, of the Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, is also on the science team. |
| Instrument | HST>NICMOS |
| Exposure Dates | August 14, 1998 and July 31, 2005 |
| About The Image | |
| Compass Image |  |
| 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. |
