Detection limits for a companion to the Sun produced by current ( R = 21) and future ( R = 26) optical surveys and IR images from IRAS ( F ₁₂ = 0.4 mJy), 2MASS ( J = 16.6), and WISE ( W2 = 14.5). For the optical limits, objects with masses of ⩾1  M _Jup are assumed to have the same fluxes of reflected light because of their similar radii. The IR limits have been derived with fluxes predicted by models of brown dwarfs at an age of 5 Gyr (Burrows et al. 1997, 2003) and (for WISE only) models of Saturn and Jupiter in the absence of solar irradiation (Fortney et al. 2011).