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Enana marrón binaria Kelu-1

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 toget...

Fecha
Jan 1, 2009
Misión
Hubble Space Telescope
ID de archivo
hubblesite-images-2009-01-2446-image
Por

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)

Detalles de la imagen

About The Object
Object NameKelu-1 AB, Kelu
Object DescriptionBinary Brown Dwarf System
R.A. Position13h 5m 40.18s
Dec. Position-25° 41' 6.0"
ConstellationCentaurus
Distance61 light-years (18.7 parsecs)
About The Data
Data DescriptionThis 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.
InstrumentHST>NICMOS
Exposure DatesAugust 14, 1998 and July 31, 2005

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Ver en NASA.gov

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