Gliese 229B: the first discovered brown dwarf: HST image from
1995nov17.
This is a false color, infrared image.
The objects are NOT resolved: the image size correlates with its brightness. The spike is an artifact of the imaging process.
Gliese 229B is the small object.
The big object is Gliese 229A: it is the binary companion of Gliese 229B and real star at about 6 pc from Earth.
Gliese 229B orbits at about 32 AU from Gliese 229A, is between 30 and 55 M_Jupiter, has radius of about the size of Jupiter's, and has a surface temperature of about 1000 K.
229B sounded familiar, but Sherlock Holmes lived at 221B Baker St., London.
References: FK-180 and CK-306.
Credit: S. Kulkarni (Caltech), D.Golimowski (JHU) and NASA/ESA