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    2M1207

    2M1207
    A brown dwarf star around which orbits the first extrasolar planet ever to be directly photographed. 2M1207 (full catalog designation: 2MASSWJ1207334-393254) lies in the constellation Hydra at a distance of 228 light-years. Its companion planet, known as 2M1207b, is about five times the size of Jupiter and is orbiting at a distance nearly twice as far as Neptune is from our Sun. Given the rather unusual properties of the 2M1207 system, the giant planet most probably did not form like the planets in our solar system. Instead it may have formed the same way our Sun formed, by gravitational collapse of a cloud of gas and dust. A team of European and American scientists working with the Very Large Telescope of the European Southern Observatory initially released a picture showing the planet in September 2004. Further images, taken in 2005, confirmed the nature of the object.


    Host star
    Distance 228 light-years (70 pc)
    Spectral type M8
    Apparent magnitude 13
    Mass (Sun = 1) 0.025
    Position RA 12h 07m 33.4s; Dec -39° 32' 54"


    Planet
    Mass (Jupiter = 1) 5±2
    Semimajor axis 55 AU (8.3 billion km, 5.1 million mi.)
    Orbital period > 2450 years
    Eccentricity ?
    Year of discovery 2005
    Discovery Chauvin et al; VLT
    Method of discovery direct imaging



    References
    1. Chauvin G., Lagrange A.-M., Dumas C., Zuckerman B., Mouillet D., Song I., Buezit J.-L. & Lowrance, P., 2005. "Confirmation of a Giant Planet Companion to the brown dwarf 2MASSWJ1207334-393254." Astron. & Astrophys., accepted.
    2. Chauvin G., Lagrange A.-M., Dumas C., Zuckerman B., Mouillet D., Song I., Buezit J.-L. & Lowrance, P., 2004 "A giant planet candidate near a young brown dwarf." Astron. & Astrophys., 425, L29

    Related categories

       • NOTABLE STARS
       • EXTRASOLAR PLANETS



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