Brown Dwarf 15 Sge

15 Sge is a star very much like our sun that is located 57.7 light years away. The star is much larger than the object orbiting it, but looks small in this artist's interpretation because it is farther away. Orbiting far from the star is a companion about 65 times the mass of Jupiter. It is a brown dwarf, more massive than a planet, but too small to produce energy by nuclear fusion as a star does. It is glowing with its own heat. See Press Release for details Full Resolution TIF (7.14 MB) Medium Resolution JPG (149.8 KB) Gemini Observatory Image/Video Usage Policy

Technical Details: 

Artist's Interperation based on observational data at Gemini and Keck