2M1207, 2M1207A or 2MASSWJ 1207334-393254 is a brown dwarf star located at in the constellation Hydra; a companion object, 2M1207b, is believed to be one of the first extrasolar planets to be directly imaged, and is the first exoplanet to be discovered in orbit of a brown dwarf.

Located at right ascension 12hr 7min 33.4sec, and declination -39° 32′ 54″ (J2000.0 celestial coordinates), 2M1207 was discovered during the course of the 2MASS infrared sky survey: hence the "2M" in its name, followed by its celestial coordinates. It is roughly 53 parsecs away; with a fairly early (for a brown dwarf) spectral type of M8, it is very young, and a likely member of the TW Hydrae association. Its estimated mass is around 21 Jupiter masses.

In December 2005, American astronomer Eric Mamajek reported a more accurate distance to 2M1207 using the moving cluster method. The new distance (revised downwards from 70 parsecs) results in a fainter luminosity for 2M1207A, and its mass was revised downwards from an original value of 25 Jupiter masses.

2M1207b

2M1207b is a planetary mass companion to 2M1207 detected in 2004 by imaging.

References

• Space.com - Astronomers Confident: Planet Beyond Solar System Has Been Photographed
• Space.com article on the discovery
• Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia page on 2M1207 b
• "A Giant Planet Candidate Near a Young Brown Dwarf" (PDF) from the European Southern Observatory.
• "A Moving Cluster Distance to the Exoplanet 2M1207b in the TW Hydrae Association"

Brown dwarfs | Centaurus constellation | Red dwarfs

2M1207 | 2M1207 | 2M1207 | 2M1207