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.

Credits: NASA, ESA, and K. Luhman (Penn State University, USA)

Estimated to be 12 times the mass of Jupiter, the object is small enough to be a planet, but also large enough to be a brown dwarf, a failed star. The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope discovery of this diminutive companion to a low-mass star is a dramatic reminder that astronomers do not have a consensus in deciding which objects orbiting other stars are truly planets.

The brown dwarf orbits at about 30 thousand million kilometres from its star (roughly 200 times farther than Earth is from the Sun). The youthful, 2-million-year-old star is one-third the mass of our Sun and lies approximately 500 light-years away in the Chamaeleon I star-forming region in our Galaxy.

Credits: NASA, ESA and G. Bacon (STScI)