Direct observation of the planet at a distance of 63 light years

Direct observation of the planet at a distance of 63 light years

Over the past 30 years, earth scientists have been able to find a lot of exoplanets outside the solar system. However, our technologies are still limited, so most of the worlds have been identified by indirect means. The method most often helped by the search for transits - the planet passes in front of a star in orbit and blocks the light. Also it is necessary to thank the method of radial velocity - the gravitational influence of the planet on the star.

Only a small number of foreign worlds could be imaged directly where the planets were observed in visible light or in infrared wavelengths. One of these planets was Beta Painter b - a young massive planet, first seen by a team from the European Southern Observatory in 2008. Recently, scientists have tracked the world, revolving around a star, which allowed to create an amazing video and draw important conclusions.

During the first discovery, the team noted that Beta Painter b is a super Jupiter with 13 masses of Jupiter and a radius 1.5 times larger. They also reported that the world revolves around a young star of the main A-type sequence, 63 light years away from Earth. Lives on the territory of the painter constellation.

Initially, the planet was discovered using the adaptive system NAOS and CONICA. Together they are known as the NACO instrument on the Big Optical Telescope (Chile). Observations of the system noted the presence of comets and two disks with fragments.

Temporary study of Beta Painter b

Since then, researchers have used the SPHERE device to track the Beta Painter b from the end of 2014 to the end of 2016. At this stage, the planet came so close to the halo of a star that the team could not resolve them. But after 2 years (September 2018), the Beta Painter again appeared from behind the halo.

We can say that we are lucky with the parameters of the planet, because in most cases it is impossible to find exoplanets directly using existing telescopes, because the light of the stars blocks the observation. First of all, this problem concerns rocky terrestrial planets. The SPHERE instrument was lucky that the starlight was reflected by the atmosphere of Beta Painter b. This was not a transit case, because the planet does not pass directly in front of the star relative to the earth observer.

Direct observation of the planet at a distance of 63 light years

The Very Large Telescope received an amazing series of frames showing the passage of the Beta Painter exoplanets around the parent star

The planet rotates around a star at a distance of 9 a. e. (distance Saturn-Sun). The discovery of the planet at a later period was another important achievement. In the coming years, many more worlds are expected to be found by direct visualization with the help of the next-generation ultra-sensitive telescopes. These include James Webb, the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) and the Giant Magellan Telescope (MGT).

Direct observation of the planet at a distance of 63 light years

Exoplanet Beta Painter b, observed with direct detection

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