2006ApJ...652..724S

Multiband (0.9-1.6 µm) images of the TW Hydrae association (TWA) brown dwarf 2MASSW J1207334-393254 (also known as 2M 1207) and its candidate planetary-mass companion (2M 1207b) were obtained on 2004 August 28 and 2005 April 26 with HST NICMOS. The images from these two epochs unequivocally confirm the two objects as a common proper motion pair (16.0 σ confidence). A new measurement of the proper motion of 2M 1207 implies a distance to the system of 59±7 pc and a projected separation of 46±5 AU. The NICMOS and previously published VLT photometry of 2M 1207b, extending overall from 0.9 to 3.8 µm, are fully consistent with an object of a few Jupiter masses at the canonical age of a TWA member (∼8 Myr) based on evolutionary models of young giant planets. These observations provide information on the physical nature of 2M 1207b and unambiguously establish that the first direct image of a planetary-mass companion in orbit around a self-luminous body, other than our Sun, has been secured.