Photo of planet outside solar system

This picture released by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) shows the first planet outside of our solar system to be pictured orbiting a brown dwarf at a distance that is nearly twice as far as Neptune is from the sun. The planet, known as an exoplanet, is five times bigger and 10 times hotter than the biggest planet in our solar system, Jupiter. PHOTO: AFP

The planet, known as an exoplanet, is five times bigger and 10 times hotter than the biggest planet in our solar system, Jupiter.

The photograph was taken last year by astronomers working with the Very Large Telescope at Mount Paranaol in Chile, the French National Scientific Research Centre (CNRS) and the European Southern Observatory (ESO) said.

The exoplanet orbits a young brown dwarf star -- a star of low mass, low luminosity and relatively low temperature. Brown dwarf stars are hard to distinguish from planets.

They had earlier said they detected an object 230 lightyears from the Earth close to a brown dwarf, but giving off 100 times less light than it. Scientists were unable to say whether the object was itself a brown dwarf, or a celestial body meeting the criteria of an exoplanet and orbiting its neighbour.