Coronagraphic image of AB Pictoris showing its tiny companion (bottom left). The data was obtained on 16 March 2003 with NACO on the VLT, using a 1.4 arcsec occulting mask on top of AB Pictoris.
In 2005 it was announced that an astronomical object (AB Pictoris b, abbreviated AB Pic b) had been imaged in 2003 and 2004 close to and apparently in orbit around the star. Its mass suggests that it is at the borderline between being a brown dwarf or a planet.[12]
Planetary system
In 2003 and 2004, an object (now catalogued as AB Pictoris b) was observed close to the star by a team of astronomers at the European Southern Observatory. Since it had common proper motion with AB Pictoris, it was concluded that it was physically close to the star. Its spectral type was estimated as between L0V and L3V. Using evolutionary models, its mass was estimated as from 13 to 14 Jupiter masses.[12] However, because modelling such young objects is difficult, this estimate is very uncertain; some models give masses as low as 11 Jupiter masses or as high as 70 Jupiter masses. Temperature estimates range from 1600 K to 2400 K.[8] As it is not known if the mass of the object exceeds the deuterium burning limit of 13 Jupiter masses, it is not clear whether the object should be classified as an extrasolar planet or a brown dwarf.[12] The planetary orbit is significantly misaligned with its spin axis orientation (obliquity), possibly due to gravitational interactions with the additional inner planet.[14]
^Haakonsen, Christian Bernt; Rutledge, Robert E. (September 2009). "XID II: Statistical Cross-Association of ROSAT Bright Source Catalog X-ray Sources with 2MASS Point Source Catalog Near-Infrared Sources". The Astrophysical Journal Supplement. 184 (1): 138–151. arXiv:0910.3229. Bibcode:2009ApJS..184..138H. doi:10.1088/0067-0049/184/1/138. S2CID119267456.
^ abcA companion to AB Pic at the planet/brown dwarf boundary, G. Chauvin, A.-M. Lagrange, B. Zuckerman, C. Dumas, D. Mouillet, I. Song, J.-L. Beuzit, P. Lowrance, and M. S. Bessell, Astronomy and Astrophysics438, #3 (August 2005), pp. L29–L32, Bibcode:2005A&A...438L..29C, doi:10.1051/0004-6361:200500111, arXiv:astro-ph/0504658.