Hubble image archive
Brown Dwarf and Mystery Companion
This is a Hubble Space Telescope image of young brown dwarf 2M J044144. It has a companion object at the 8 o'clock position that is estimated to be 5-10 times the mass of Jupiter. In the right panel, the light from the brown dwarf has been subtracted to provide a clearer view of...
- Date
- Jan 1, 2010
- Mission
- Hubble Space Telescope
- Archive ID
- hubblesite-images-2010-03-2679-image
This is a Hubble Space Telescope image of young brown dwarf 2M J044144. It has a companion object at the 8 o'clock position that is estimated to be 5-10 times the mass of Jupiter. In the right panel, the light from the brown dwarf has been subtracted to provide a clearer view of the companion object. The separation of the companion corresponds to 1.4 billion miles at the distance of the Taurus star-forming region, which is only about 1 million years old. The companion may be a very small brown dwarf or a large planet, depending on how it formed. Images were taken with Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 to track the motion of the two objects to see if they actually do travel across space together. Additional observations were done with the Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii.
Credits
NASA, ESA, and K. Todorov and K. Luhman (Penn State University)Image Details
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | 2MASS J04414489+2301513, 2MASS J044144 |
| Object Description | Brown Dwarf with Companion |
| R.A. Position | 04h 41m 44.89s |
| Dec. Position | 23° 1' 51.39" |
| Constellation | Taurus |
| Distance | 460 light-years or 140 parsecs |
| Dimensions | This image is 0.6 arcseconds (84 astronomical units) wide. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | This image was created from HST data from proposal : K. Luhman (Penn State University) and K. McLeod (Wellesley College). Other collaborators include K. Todorov (Penn State University). |
| Instrument | HST>WFPC2 |
| Exposure Dates | August 20, 2008, Exposure Time: 7 minutes |
| Filters | F791W (I) and F850LP (I) |
Downloads
Source
Image and source material are credited to the official mission archive linked below.
View on NASA.gov