Around Beta Pictoris

Beta Pictoris is located about 60 light-years away towards the constellation of Pictor (the Painter's Easel) and is one of the best-known examples of a star surrounded by a dusty debris disc. Earlier observations showed a warp of the disc, a secondary inclined disc and comets falling onto the star, all indirect, but tell-tale signs that strongly suggested the presence of a massive planet.Observations done with the NACO instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope in 2003, 2008 and 2009, have proven the presence of a planet around Beta Pictoris. It is located at a distance between 8 and 15 times the Earth-Sun separation — or Astronomical Units — which is about the distance Saturn is from the Sun. The planet has a mass of about nine Jupiter masses and the right mass and location to explain the observed warp in the inner parts of the disc.

This image, based on data from the Digitized Sky Survey 2, shows a region of approximately 1.7 x 2.3 degrees around Beta Pictoris.

Crédit:

ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2

À propos de l'image

Identification:eso1024d
Type:Observation
Date de publication:6 mars 2014 20:00
Communiqués de presse en rapport:eso1432, eso1414, eso1408, eso1024
Taille:6218 x 8233 px

À propos de l'objet

Nom:Beta Pictoris
Type:Milky Way : Star : Circumstellar Material : Disk : Debris
Distance:70 années lumière
Constellation:Pictor
Catégorie:Stars

Image Formats

Grand JPEG
10,4 Mio
JPEG taille écran
526,7 Kio

Zoomable


Fonds d'écran

1024x768
285,8 Kio
1280x1024
445,0 Kio
1600x1200
609,0 Kio
1920x1200
695,6 Kio
2048x1536
920,7 Kio

Coordinates

Position (RA):5 47 17.13
Position (Dec):-51° 3' 59.03"
Field of view:104.45 x 138.31 arcminutes
Orientation:North is 2.7° right of vertical

Couleurs & filtres

DomaineLongueur d'ondeTélescope
Visible
B
445 nmDigitized Sky Survey 2
Visible
R
658 nmDigitized Sky Survey 2