Planet or Failed Star? (IMAGE) European Space Agency Caption This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows one of the smallest objects ever seen around a normal star. Astronomers believe the object is a brown dwarf because it is 12 times more massive than Jupiter. The brown dwarf candidate, called CHXR 73 B, is the bright spot at lower right. It orbits a red dwarf star, dubbed CHXR 73, which is a third less massive than the Sun. Being about two million years old, the star is very young when compared with our middle-aged 4.6-billion-year-old Sun. CHXR 73 B orbits at about 30 thousand million kilometres from its star, or roughly 200 times farther than Earth is from the Sun. The star looks significantly larger than CHXR 73 B because it is much brighter than its companion. The brightness of CHXR 73 B is one hundredth times that of its star. The cross-shaped diffraction spikes around the star are artefacts produced within the telescope's optics. The star is 500 light-years away from Earth. Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys snapped the image in near-infrared light on 10 and 15 February 2005. The colour used in the image does not reflect the object’s true colour. Credit NASA, ESA, and K. Luhman (Penn State University, USA) Usage Restrictions For non-commercial use only License Licensed content Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.