Beta Pictoris

[ExplorerAtHeart]

I love this, this is the closest to star exoplanet yet imaged directly. If only i could explore this brand new system up close. The system is about 12 million years old. If you think Jupiter is big, planet b is 8 times the mass of Jupiter.

Beta Pictoris is located about 62.9 light-years from Sol. It lies at the east central part (5:47:17.1-51:3:59.4, ICRS 2000.0) of Constellation Pictor, the Painter's Easel -- north of Gamma Pictoris and northwest of Alpha Pictoris. In 1983, astronomers using the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) discovered a circumstellar dust disk around this star which was photographed from the ground by the following year (Smith and Terrile, 1984). Subsequent observations suggested the presence of at least two giant planets in outer orbits (details below). On May 7, 2007, astronomers modelling the vertical thickness and dust production in the star's circumstellar debris disk based on Hubble observations submitted a paper arguing that its disk likely contains planetary embryos as large as Pluto that are undergoing runaway growth into larger bodies (Quillen et al, 2007 -- more below). (See an animation of the hypothesized planetary, dust disk, and potentially habitable zone orbits of this system, with a table of basic orbital and physical characteristics.)

Beta Pictoris is a bluish white main sequence dwarf star of spectral and luminosity type A5 V, but has been previously classified as A3. It is also classified as a "shell star" because it is surrounded by a shell of mostly hydrogen gas. The star may have about 1.75 times Sol's mass, 1.4 times its diameter, and 8.7 times its luminosity. The star may be as enriched than Sol with elements heavier than hydrogen ("metallicity"), based on its abundance of iron (Heap et al, 1995). It appears to only be around 12 million years old, as it is part of a stellar moving group that includes 16 other star systems (Zuckerman et al, 2001; ESO new release; and Lagrange et al, 2010). Useful catalogue numbers and designations for the star include: Bet Pic, HR 2020*, Gl 219, Hip 27321, HD 39060, CD-51 1620, CP(D)-51 774, and SAO 234134.

On June 10, 2010, astronomers working with the European Southern Observatory (ESO) announced that they have been able to directly follow the orbital motion of Jupiter-class planet "b," as it moves from one side of its Beta Pictoris to the other. Beta Pictoris b has been confirmed as having the smallest orbit so far of all directly imaged extra-Solar planets ("exoplanets") thus far. Orbiting its host star almost as close as Saturn does around our Sun, Sol, planet b may have formed in a similar way to the giant planets in the Solar System. As Beta Pictoris has been estimated to be only around 12 million years old, the discovery of planet b proves that gas giant planets can form within a star's circumstellar dust ("debris") disk within only a few million years, which is a short time in astronomical terms (ESO new release; and Lagrange et al, 2010).

Source of quoted material and image http://www.solstation.com/stars2/beta-pic.htm < one of my favorite web sites!



Video credit ESO

*note, i can't seem to get this youtube thing to work, somebody please tell me what i am doing wrong! thanks!

 

[SagansHeroes]

Yeah I was reading about this the other day... The planet has EIGHT - NINE Jupiter masses but it's star isn't quite twice our stars mass. It is pretty young and despite the planets insane size it is pretty far from it's sun (like Saturn-Neptune distance). Which is good news for the search of life I guess, as a lot to do with the likelihood that we were given enough time to evolve is thanks to our position between Jupiter and the sun, protecting us from most wayward asteroids/comets. Obviously the one that wiped out the dinosaurs was a plus for mankind (mammals would have surely been kept down from predation in a fashion unlikely to be favourable for our eventual evolution), but constant bombardment, and eventually by large enough asteroids/comets would sterilise the planet all together.

 

[Aught3]

[Youtube]EboVS5UbIFA[/Youtube]

You only need the video tag not the whole url.

 

[MRaverz]

Hold on, I thought that if Jupiter has six times more mass it would become a star...

 

[SagansHeroes]

Hold on, I thought that if Jupiter has six times more mass it would become a star...

Depends on what it's made of. Jupiter is largely star matter (Hydrogen and Helium). For example, earth wouldn't become a star if it was the same mass as the star.

 

[MRaverz]

Hold on, I thought that if Jupiter has six times more mass it would become a star...

Depends on what it's made of. Jupiter is largely star matter (Hydrogen and Helium). For example, earth wouldn't become a star if it was the same mass as the star.

Ahh, of course. Thanks!

 

[ExplorerAtHeart]

It takes 13 Jupiter masses to make a Brown Dwarf. Jupiter would need to become 78 times its current mass to even become a Red Dwarf (ie activate hydrogen fusion). The sun is 1,048 times the mass of Jupiter. Anything under 13 Jupiter masses is a planet. Anything over is a Brown Dwarf.