Beta Pictoris c

Beta Pictoris c (abbreviated as β Pic c) is the second exoplanet orbiting young debris disk Beta Pictoris, located approximately 63 light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Pictor. It has a mass around 9 Jupiter masses, and orbits at around 2.7 au from Beta Pictoris, about 3.5 times closer to its parent star than Beta Pictoris b,[1] and has an orbital period of 1,200 days (3.3 years).[1] The orbit of Beta Pictoris c is moderately eccentric, with an eccentricity of 0.24.[2]

Beta Pictoris c
Artist's impression of the beta Pictoris system showing the planets in the system.
Discovery
Discovered byLagrange et al.[1]
Discovery siteLa Silla Observatory
Discovery date19 August 2019[1]
Radial velocity method
Orbital characteristics
1200 d (3.3 yr)[1]
StarBeta Pictoris
Physical characteristics
Mass~9 MJ[1]

    Discovery

    Beta Pictoris c was detected indirectly, through 10 years of observation[3] of radial velocity data from the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) spectroscope on the European Southern Observatory's ESO 3.6 m Telescope at La Silla Observatory in Chile. Led by Anne-Marie Lagrange and a worldwide team of researchers,[1] this discovery can help scientists further understand the formation of planetary systems and their evolution in the early stages.[4]

    Characteristics

    Mass, radius and temperature

    Beta Pictoris c is a super-Jupiter, an exoplanet that has a radius and mass greater than that of the planet Jupiter; it has a mass of around 9 Jupiter masses (MJ).[1]

    Host star
    Main article: Beta Pictoris

    The planet orbits an A-type main sequence star named Beta Pictoris. The star has a mass of 1.75 solar masses (M☉) and a radius of 1.8 solar radii (R☉). It has a surface temperature of 8056 K and is only 12 million years old.[5] It is slightly metal-rich, with a metallicity (Fe/H) of 0.06, or 112% of that found in the Sun.[6] Its luminosity (L☉) is 8.7 times that of the Sun.

    Orbit

    Beta Pictoris c orbits at around 2.7 au from its host star Beta Pictoris, about 3.5 times closer than Beta Pictoris b.[2] It has an orbital period of 1,200 days (3.3 years).[1]

    References
    1. Lagrange, A.-M.; Meunier, Pascal Rubini; Keppler, Miriam; Galland, Franck; et al. (19 August 2019). "Evidence for an additional planet in the β Pictoris system". Nature Astronomy. doi:10.1038/s41550-019-0857-1. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
    2. Young, Monica (19 August 2019). "Beta Pic's New Planet, Jupiter's Fuzzy Core & An Ancient Star". Sky & Telescope. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
    3. "A second planet in the Beta Pictoris system". Nanowerk. 19 August 2019. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
    4. Narayanan, Nirmal (26 August 2019). "Scientists discover planet 10 times bigger than Jupiter, could help know more about planet formation". International Business Times. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
    5. Webb, R. A.; Bessell, M. S.; Song, Inseok; Zuckerman, B. (30 October 2001). "The β Pictoris Moving Group". The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 562: L87–L90. doi:10.1086/337968.
    6. Gray, R. O.; et al. (2006). "Contributions to the Nearby Stars (NStars) Project: Spectroscopy of Stars Earlier than M0 within 40 pc—The Southern Sample". The Astronomical Journal. 132 (1): 161–170. arXiv:astro-ph/0603770. Bibcode:2006AJ....132..161G. doi:10.1086/504637.


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