Scientists detect Jupiter-sized exoplanet hidden in debris disk surrounding the star Beta Pictoris
Using spectroscopic infrared data from the Webb Space Telescope as well as ground-based telescopes, astronomers have discovered an exoplanet with two times the mass of Jupiter hidden inside the well-studied debris disk that surrounds the nearby star Beta Pictoris.
Located 63 light-years from Earth and about 23 million years old, Beta Pictoris is a nearby system in the Milky Way offering a rare glimpse of the interactions between newborn planets and the disk of dust and debris left behind from their formation.
The team estimates that the newfound Beta Pictoris d is likely at least two times the mass of Jupiter, making it the smallest of the three known giant planets in the system. Modeling suggests it likely circles around its star at about 30 astronomical units, comparable to the region occupied by Neptune in our own solar system. It’s the widest orbit of the known three planets, but still located inside the inner edge of the debris disk.
Beta Pictoris’ debris disk has been a point of interest for astronomers for decades. The star is somewhat comparable to our Sun though significantly younger, and it is believed the disk is a baby solar system in formation. This new planet’s location near the disk’s inner edge might explain the sharpness of that edge: The planet is shepherding the material in the disk.
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