Giant planet companion to 2MASSW J1207334-393254.

G. Chauvin (1) , A.-M. Lagrange (1) , C. Dumas , B. Zuckerman , D. Mouillet (1) , I. Song , J.-L. Beuzit (1) , P. Lowrance

1 LAOG - Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Grenoble

We report new VLT/NACO imaging observations of the young, nearby brown dwarf 2MASSW J1207334-393254 and its suggested planetary mass companion (2M1207 b). Three epochs of VLT/NACO measurements obtained over nearly one year show that the planetary mass companion candidate shares the same proper motion and, with a high confidence level, is not a stationary background object. This result confirms the status of 2M1207 b as of planetary mass (5 times the mass of Jupiter) and the first image of a planetary mass companion in a different system than our own. This discovery offers new perspectives for our understanding of chemical and physical properties of planetary mass objects as well as their mechanisms of formation.

G. Chauvin, A.-M. Lagrange, C. Dumas, B. Zuckerman, D. Mouillet, et al.. Giant planet companion to 2MASSW J1207334-393254.. Astronomy and Astrophysics - A&A, 2005, 438, pp.L25-L28. ⟨10.1051/0004-6361:200500116⟩. ⟨hal-00398141⟩