Beta Pictoris

Beta Pictoris (abbreviated β Pictoris or β Pic) is the second brightest <a href="/facts/Star/euBFuo07">star</a> in the <a href="/facts/Constellation/nBQqgW8A">constellation</a> <a href="/facts/Pictor/qdC1fIMF">Pictor</a>. It is located 63.4 <a href="/facts/Light-year/IGc5NdQb">light-years</a> (19.4 <a href="/facts/Parsec/SwSsk57J">pc</a>) from the <a href="/facts/Solar_System/QIcLSazQ">Solar System</a>, and is 1.75 times as massive and 8.7 times as <a href="/facts/Luminosity/1tdhpk9l">luminous</a> as the <a href="/facts/Sun/CadPCVHh">Sun</a>. The Beta Pictoris system is very young, only 20 to 26 million years old, although it is already in the <a href="/facts/Main_sequence/DJ3Wq8kd">main sequence</a> stage of its <a href="/facts/Stellar_evolution/Qa4vAGmn">evolution</a>. Beta Pictoris is the title member of the <a href="/facts/Beta_Pictoris_moving_group/DnWKFPl5">Beta Pictoris moving group</a>, an <a href="/facts/Stellar_association/urBqjfYg">association</a> of young stars which share the same motion through space and have the same age.
The <a href="/facts/European_Southern_Observatory/mJtjDbwx">European Southern Observatory</a> (ESO) has confirmed the presence of two planets, <a href="/facts/Beta_Pictoris_b/9XhDUa7u">Beta Pictoris b</a>, and <a href="/facts/Beta_Pictoris_c/IJtXMHml">Beta Pictoris c</a>, through the use of <a href="/facts/Methods_of_detecting_extrasolar_planets/vFIblQe9">direct imagery</a>. Both planets are orbiting in the plane of the debris disk surrounding the star. Beta Pictoris c is currently the closest extrasolar planet to its star ever photographed: the observed separation is roughly the same as the distance between the <a href="/facts/Asteroid_belt/YHAq2Eh3">asteroid belt</a> and the Sun.
Beta Pictoris shows an <a href="/facts/Infrared_excess/xq5nQcVD">excess of infrared emission</a> compared to normal stars of its type, which is caused by large quantities of dust and gas (including <a href="/facts/Carbon_monoxide/CKuLtEMJ">carbon monoxide</a>) near the star. Detailed observations reveal a large disk of dust and gas orbiting the star, which was the first <a href="/facts/Debris_disk/ClIxTnge">debris disk</a> to be imaged around another star. In addition to the presence of several <a href="/facts/Planetesimal/PK60dofs">planetesimal</a> belts and <a href="/facts/Comet/w34utQCd">cometary</a> activity, there are indications that <a href="/facts/Planet/rbPjE6Bx">planets</a> have formed within this disk and that the processes of planet formation may be ongoing. Material from the Beta Pictoris debris disk is thought to be the dominant source of interstellar <a href="/facts/Meteoroid/5PexF2mR">meteoroids</a> in the Solar System.

Beta Pictoris open-in-new

Beta Pictoris