[Left] – This is a Hubble Space Telescope near-infrared-light image of a brown dwarf located 170 light-years away from Earth. The object is no more than 30 times the mass of Jupiter, making it too small to sustain nuclear fusion to shine as a star.
[Right] – When the glow of the brown dwarf is subtracted from the image, a smaller and fainter companion object becomes visible. No more that four times the mass of Jupiter, this companion is dubbed a "super-Jupiter." It has an estimated diameter as big as 40 percent greater than Jupiter's diameter. The world is 5 billion miles from the brown dwarf, nearly twice the distance between our sun and the planet Neptune.
Because the planet is only 10 million years old, it is so hot it may rain molten glass and iron in its atmosphere. Hubble has measured fluctuations in the planet's brightness that suggests the planet has patchy clouds as it completes one rotation every 10 hours.
Credits
NASA, ESA, and Y. Zhou (University of Arizona)| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | 2M1207, 2MASS J12073346-3932539, 2M1207A and 2M1207b |
| Object Description | Super-Jupiter around a Brown Dwarf |
| R.A. Position | 12h 7m 33.46s |
| Dec. Position | 39° 32' 53.99" |
| Constellation | Centaurus |
| Distance | 170 light-years (52.4 parsecs) |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | The HST data were taken from proposals 13418: D. Apai, and G. Schneider (Steward Observatory/University of Arizona), M. Kasper (European Southern Observatory, Germany), A. Showman (University of Arizona), and M. Marley (NASA Ames Research Center). The science team comprises :Y. Zhou, D. Apai, and G. Schneider (Steward Observatory/University of Arizona), M. Marley (NASA Ames Research Center), and A. Showman (University of Arizona). |
| Instrument | HST>WFC3/IR |
| Exposure Dates | April 11, 2014 |
| Filters | F125W (J) and F160W (H) |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | This image was originally black and white and recorded only overall brightness from the F160W (H) filter. These brightness values were translated into a range of reddish hues. Such color "maps" can be useful in helping to distinguish subtly varying brightness in an 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. |
