2M1207b is an extrasolar planet orbiting the brown dwarf 2M1207, a star in the constellation Hydra approximately 200 light years from Earth. Notable as one of the first extrasolar planets to be directly observed (by infrared imaging), it was discovered in early 2005 by the Very Large Telescope at the Paranal Observatory in Chile by a team from European Southern Observatory led by Gael Chauvin. It is believed to be about five times the mass of Jupiter and orbits its sun at a distance nearly twice as far as Neptune is from the Earth's Sun. Infrared image of the star GQ Lupi (A) orbited by a planet (b) at a distance of approximately 20 times the distance between Jupiter and our Sun. ... The following are lists of stars with confirmed extrasolar planets. ... The astronomical unit (AU or au or a. ... Mass is a property of a physical object that quantifies the amount of matter it contains. ... Adjective Jovian Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 70 kPa Hydrogen ~86% Helium ~14% Methane 0. ... RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial In User Service) is an AAA (authentication, authorization and accounting) protocol for applications such as network access or IP mobility. ... Density (symbol: ρ - Greek: rho) is a measure of mass per unit of volume. ... The international prototype, made of platinum-iridium, which is kept at the BIPM under conditions specified by the 1st CGPM in 1889. ... The cubic meter (symbol m³) is the SI derived unit of volume. ... Temperature is also the name of a song by Sean Paul. ... The kelvin (symbol: K) is the SI unit of temperature, and is one of the seven SI base units. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Gael Chauvin played ice-hockey since he was 5 years old till he was 20 with the Bruleurs de Loups at Grenoble, winning the French championship in 1993 (cadet) and in 1995 (junior). ... Infrared image of the star GQ Lupi (A) orbited by a planet (b) at a distance of approximately 20 times the distance between Jupiter and our Sun. ... Infrared image of the star GQ Lupi (A) orbited by a planet (b) at a distance of approximately 20 times the distance between Jupiter and our Sun. ... Two bodies with a slight difference in mass orbiting around a common barycenter. ... This brown dwarf (smaller object) orbits the star Gliese 229, which is located in the constellation Lepus about 19 light years from Earth. ... European Southern Observatory infrared image of 2M1207 (blueish) and companion planet 2M1207b (reddish), taken in 2004. ... The Pleiades star cluster A star is a massive body of plasma in outer space that is currently producing or has produced energy through nuclear fusion. ... Hydra is the largest of the 88 modern constellations, and was also one of the 48 constellations listed by Ptolemy. ... A light year, abbreviated ly, is the distance light travels in one year: roughly 9. ... Image of a small dog taken in mid-infrared (thermal) light (false color) Infrared (IR) radiation is electromagnetic radiation of a wavelength longer than that of visible light, but shorter than that of microwave radiation. ... Template:Diffgggtgerent calendars 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... One of the four telescopes that make up the VLT, named Kueyen. ... The European Southern Observatory (ESO) is an international astronomical organisation, composed and supported by ten countries from the European Union plus Switzerland and was created in 1962. ... The European Southern Observatory (ESO) is an international astronomical organisation, composed and supported by ten countries from the European Union plus Switzerland and was created in 1962. ... Gael Chauvin played ice-hockey since he was 5 years old till he was 20 with the Bruleurs de Loups at Grenoble, winning the French championship in 1993 (cadet) and in 1995 (junior). ... Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 70 kPa Hydrogen ~86% Helium ~14% Methane 0. ... Atmospheric characteristics Surface pressure ≫100 MPa Hydrogen - H2 80% ±3. ... The Sun is the star at the center of Earths solar system. ...

Provisionally named 2M1207b, the gas giant planet is, like its primary, very hot; the estimated surface temperature is roughly 1250 K (976°C or 1790°Fahrenheit). The planet's mass is about five times that of Jupiter, well below the calculated limit for deuterium fusion in brown dwarves, which is 10-13 Jupiter masses. The projected distance between 2M1207b and its primary is around 41 AU (similar to the mean distance between Pluto and the Sun), giving it an estimated orbital period of around 1700 years. The infrared spectrum of the planet indicates the presence of water molecules in its atmosphere. The planet is not a likely candidate to support life, neither on its surface nor on any satellites. A gas giant is a large planet that is not composed mostly of rock or other solid matter. ... A planet is generally considered to be a relatively large mass of accreted matter in orbit around a star that is not a star itself. ... Primary is an adjective meaning first or first hand. It may refer to: Primary education or Primary school Primary care. ... Temperature is also the name of a song by Sean Paul. ... The kelvin (symbol: K) is the SI unit of temperature, and is one of the seven SI base units. ... A degree Celsius (°C) is a unit of temperature named after the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius (1701-1744), who first proposed a similar system in 1742. ... The letter F is the sixth letter in the Latin alphabet. ... Mass is a property of a physical object that quantifies the amount of matter it contains. ... Deuterium, also called heavy hydrogen, is a stable isotope of hydrogen with a natural abundance in the oceans of one atom in 6400 of hydrogen (see VSMOW; the abundance changes slightly from one kind of natural water to another). ... The deuterium-tritium (D-T) fusion reaction is considered the most promising for producing fusion power. ... The distance between two points is the length of a straight line segment between them. ... The astronomical unit (AU or au or a. ... Adjective Plutonian Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 0. ... The Sun is the star at the center of Earths solar system. ... The orbital period is the time it takes a planet (or another object) to make one full orbit. ... A year is the time between two recurrences of an event related to the orbit of the Earth around the Sun. ... Water (from the Old English waeter; c. ... Look up life, living in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A satellite is any object that orbits another object (which is known as its primary). ...

Discovery and identification

2M1207b is about 100 times fainter in the sky than its companion star, and was first spotted as a "faint reddish speck of light" in 2004, and was inconclusively imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope later that year. Images taken in February and March 2004 by the Very Large Telescope array were more conclusive, and suggest a mass of about 5 Jupiters, although other methods suggest a slightly smaller mass. As with any astronomical object, adjacency in the sky does not necessarily mean that two objects are gravitationally bound (see optical binary); however, observations over time show with high confidence that the two objects (2M1207 and 2M1207b) show similar proper motion in the sky and are therefore part of the same stellar system. 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... // The Hubble Telescope The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is a telescope in orbit around the Earth. ... This topic is about the astronomical phenomenon. ... The proper motion of a star is the motion of the position of the star in the sky (the change in direction in which we see it, as opposed to the radial velocity) after eliminating the improper motions of the stars, which affect their measured coordinates but are not real...

Infrared image of 2M1207 (blueish) and 2M1207b (reddish). The two objects are separated by less than one arc second in Earth's sky. Image taken using the ESO's 8.2m Yepun VLT.

Although widely hailed as the first direct image of an extrasolar planet, some question whether 2M1207b is actually a planet. Some astronomers doubt that the body formed in the same way as the planets in our solar system (formation in a planetary disk). Such objectors say the body likely formed in the same way stars are formed, from gravitational collapse of a gaseous nebula. If this interpretation is correct, the object would not be a planet, but would be another brown dwarf, and the system would then be a binary system consisting of two brown dwarfs. A similar debate exists regarding the identity of GQ Lupi b, also first imaged in early 2005. On the other hand, the discovery of marginal cases like Cha 110913-773444--a free-floating, roughly planetary-mass brown dwarf, raise the question of whether distinction by formation is a reliable dividing line between "stars/brown dwarfs" and "planets." Image File history File links Phot-14a-05-preview. ... Image File history File links Phot-14a-05-preview. ... A second of arc or arcsecond is a unit of angular measurement which comprises one-sixtieth of an arcminute, or 1/3600 of a degree of arc or 1/1296000 ≈ 7. ... The European Southern Observatory (ESO) is an international astronomical organisation, composed and supported by ten countries from the European Union plus Switzerland and was created in 1962. ... One of the four telescopes that make up the VLT, named Kueyen. ... An astronomer or astrophysicist is a scientist whose area of research is astronomy or astrophysics. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Triangulum Emission Nebula NGC 604 lies in a spiral arm of Galaxy M33, 2. ... A binary system is an astronomy term referring to two objects in space, usually stars, which are so close that their gravitational forces attract one another into a mutual orbit. ... Infrared image of the star GQ Lupi (A) orbited by a planet (b) at a distance of approximately 20 times the distance between Jupiter and our Sun. ... Cha 110913-773444 is a brown dwarf or a planet with a disk. ...

As of May 2005, the International Astronomical Union officially described 2M1207b as "a possible planetary-mass companion to a brown dwarf." 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Logo of the IAU The International Astronomical Union (French: Union astronomique internationale) unites national astronomical societies from around the world. ...

In December 2005, American astronomer Eric Mamajek reported a more accurate distance estimate to the 2M1207 system of 53 parsecs (173 light years) by calculating a moving-cluster parallax. The revised distance means the luminosities and inferred masses of the 2M1207 system were decreased, from an original estimated mass and separation of 5 Jupiter masses and 55 AU respectively. This article is about the unit of length. ... A light year, abbreviated ly, is the distance light travels in one year: roughly 9. ... Parallax (Greek: παραλλαγή (parallagé) = alteration) is the change of angular position of two stationary points relative to each other as seen by an observer, due to the motion of an observer. ...

External links

• ESO Press Release 12/05:Yes, it is the Image of an Exoplanet
• BBC: Planet 'seen' around distant sun
• Space.com - Astronomers Confident: Planet Beyond Solar System Has Been Photographed
• Space.com article on the discovery
• Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia page on 2M1207b
• "A Giant Planet Candidate Near a Young Brown Dwarf" (PDF) from the European Southern Observatory.
• Space.com: Fresh Debate over First Photo of Extrasolar Planet
• Luhman et al.,Discovery of a Planetary-Mass Brown Dwarf with a Circumstellar Disk
• "A Moving Cluster Distance to the Exoplanet 2M1207b in the TW Hydrae Association"