A probable giant planet imaged in the Beta Pictoris disk

TL;DR

A faint planetary candidate approximately 8 AU from Beta Pictoris was detected using adaptive optics, potentially explaining the system's peculiarities and representing a rare close-in planet around an A-star.

Contribution

First direct imaging detection of a probable giant planet within the Beta Pictoris disk at a close orbital distance, using advanced adaptive optics techniques.

Findings

Detected a faint point-like signal at ~8 AU from Beta Pictoris.

Estimated the object’s temperature at ~1500 K and mass at ~8 Jupiter masses.

Confirmed the detection’s robustness against artifacts and background contamination.

Abstract

Since the discovery of its dusty disk in 1984, Beta Pictoris has become the prototype of young early-type planetary systems, and there are now various indications that a massive Jovian planet is orbiting the star at ~ 10 AU. However, no planets have been detected around this star so far. Our goal was to investigate the close environment of Beta Pic, searching for planetary companion(s). Deep adaptive-optics L'-band images of Beta Pic were recorded using the NaCo instrument at the Very Large Telescope. A faint point-like signal is detected at a projected distance of ~ 8 AU from the star, within the North-East side of the dust disk. Various tests were made to rule out with a good confidence level possible instrumental or atmospheric artifacts. The probability of a foreground or background contaminant is extremely low, based in addition on the analysis of previous deep Hubble Space Telescope images. The object L'=11.2 apparent magnitude would indicate a typical temperature of ~1500 K and a mass of ~ 8 Jovian masses. If confirmed, it could explain the main morphological and dynamical peculiarities of the Beta Pic system. The present detection is unique among A-stars by the proximity of the resolved planet to its parent star. Its closeness and location inside the Beta Pic disk suggest a formation process by core accretion or disk instabilities rather than a binary-like formation process.