Beta Pictoris d: new planet found after hiding in telescope archives for 11 years
Astronomers using ESO's Very Large Telescope discovered Beta Pictoris d, a third planet around the star Beta Pictoris, 63 light-years away. The gas giant has 2.4 times Jupiter's mass, is 100 times fainter than planet b and had been hiding in archive images for 11 years, ESO repor
Astronomers have discovered a third planet orbiting the star Beta Pictoris, 63 light-years from Earth. The new planet, Beta Pictoris d, is a gas giant with 2.4 times the mass of Jupiter and is 100 times fainter than Beta Pictoris b, making it the faintest exoplanet ever directly imaged from Earth according to ESO. The team found the planet with the ERIS instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope and then spotted it in archive images dating back 11 years. An independent team at the University of California confirmed the planet using the James Webb Space Telescope. Beta Pictoris is only the second system, after HR 8799, with more than two directly imaged planets. Both studies appear in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Source: ESO, The Astrophysical Journal Letters