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The Beta Pictoris system swirls with activity: a dusty debris disk, comets falling to the central star and at least one giant planet. And now, astronomers have discovered evidence of the presence of another planetary Goliath, about nine times the mass of Jupiter, hidden in the mysterious system.
Look on Beta Pic
Beta Pictoris, or Beta Pic, is only 23 years old and is a relatively young star. And located only 63 light-years away from Earth, the system largely rewards those who study it. In fact, Beta Pic has revealed secrets about the dynamics of planetary formation over the last 30 years.
In 2008, astronomers discovered a massive super-Jupiter, Beta Pictoris b. However, its strange inclined orbit indicates that another planet might be hiding in the system, says Dániel Apai, an associate professor of astronomy and planetary science at the University of Arizona. He said Astronomy that over the last three decades, system observations have revealed many components that seemed out of the plane and misaligned. The new research could explain that. Apai says, "A violent encounter with the past of the two super-Jupiters could be the source of disorder in this planetary system."
Evidence for the new planet, Beta Pictoris c, was found using the radial velocity method, which indirectly detects a planet by measuring how its host star wobbles around the system's overall center of mass. While this technique has helped astronomers find planets orbiting sun-like, cooler stars, this is the first time it has been used to detect a planet around such a massive and hot star. Beta Pictoris, lead author Anne-Marie Lagrange of the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) in France, said Astronomy. "Its spectrum is very different from that of a solar type star and much less suitable for planet search," she explains.
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