The Subaru data utilized the observatory's extreme adaptive optics system, SCExAO, to correct for atmospheric blurring and the CHARIS integral field spectrograph to record AB Aur b's brightness measurements at different near-infrared wavelengths.

[5] However, subsequent SCExAO/CHARIS data obtained with Subaru over the next four years showed that AB Aur b's spectrum is dissimilar to that of the protoplanetary disk, with a temperature similar to predicted values for a newly born planet.

The CHARIS and NICMOS data are consistent with interpreting AB Aur b as a 9 to 12 Jupiter-mass object with a radius of about 2.75 times that of Jupiter.

Modeling thus far suggests that the companion's orbit is inclined about 43 degrees from our line-of-sight, possibly coplanar with the star's protoplanetary disk.

Assuming a hot-start evolutionary model and a planetary-mass (less than 13 MJ), AB Aurigae b would be younger than 3 million years to have its observed large luminosity (and hence radius).

[14] Another study gives a higher mass of 20 MJ for an age of 4 Myr, which is in the brown dwarf regime, arguing since gravitational instability of the disk (the preferred formation mechanism in the discovery publication[1]) operates on very short time scales, it might be as old as the central star.

[3] The system AB Aurigae made a brief appearance in the 2021 film "Don't Look Up" during depicted Subaru observations, although the companion is not visible on the displayed image.