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HST NICMOS Imaging of the Planetary-mass Companion to the Young Brown Dwarf 2MASS J1207334-393254

Inseok Song·G. Schneider·B. Zuckerman·J. Farihi·E. E. Becklin·M. S. Bessell·P. Lowrance·B. A. Macintosh
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Abstract

Multi-band (0.9 to 1.6 um) images of the TW Hydrae Association (TWA) brown dwarf, 2MASS J1207334-393254 (also known as 2M1207), and its candidate planetary mass companion (2M1207b) were obtained on 2004 Aug 28 and 2005 Apr 26 with HST/NICMOS. The images from these two epochs unequivocally confirm the two objects as a common proper motion pair (16.0 sigma confidence). A new measurement of the proper motion of 2M1207 implies a distance to the system of 59+-7 pc and a projected separation of 46+-5 AU. The NICMOS and previously published VLT photometry of 2M1207b, extending overall from 0.9 to 3.8 um, are fully consistent with an object of a few Jupiter masses at the canonical age of a TWA member (~8 Myr) based on evolutionary models of young giant planets. These observations provide information on the physical nature of 2M1207b and unambiguously establish that the first direct image of a planetary mass companion in orbit around a self-luminous body, other than our Sun, has been secured.

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Inseok Song, G. Schneider, B. Zuckerman, J. Farihi, E. E. Becklin, M. S. Bessell, P. Lowrance, B. A. Macintosh. 2006-07-21. HST NICMOS Imaging of the Planetary-mass Companion to the Young Brown Dwarf 2MASS J1207334-393254. https://doi.org/10.1086/507831

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