Direct Imaging Discovery of Giant Exoplanet β Pictoris d: A Decade-Long Game of Hide-and-Seek

Ben J. Sutlieff; Markus J. Bonse; Valentin Christiaens; Clémence Fontanive; Elisabeth C. Matthews; Luke T. Parker; Tim D. Pearce; Jayne L. Birkby; Beth A. Biller; Trent J. Dupuy; Emily O. Garvin; Leyla Iskandarli; Jens Kammerer; Yifan Zhou; Robert J. De Rosa; Aarynn L. Carter; Sasha Hinkley; Matthew A. Kenworthy; William O. Balmer; Iain Hammond; James Mang; Caroline V. Morley; Mark J. Neeser; Olivier Absil; Anthony Boccaletti; Mariangela Bonavita; Brendan P. Bowler; Xueqing Chen; Felix A. Dannert; Julien H. Girard; Markus Kasper; Anne-Marie Lagrange; Pengyu Liu; Gilles Orban de Xivry; Michael Poon; Sascha P. Quanz; Benoît Serra; Johanna M. Vos; Kevin Wagner; Jason Wang; Bernhard Schölkopf; Guido Agapito; Alex Agudo Berbel; Dániel Apai; Andrea Baruffolo; Martin Black; Marco Bonaglia; Runa Briguglio; Yixian Cao; Luca Carbonaro; Lee Chapman; Giovanni Cresci; Yigit Dallilar; Richard Davies; Matthias Deysenroth; Ivan Di Antonio; Amico Di Cianno; Gianluca Di Rico; David Doelman; Mauro Dolci; Frank Eisenhauer; Simone Esposito; Debora Ferruzzi; Helmut Feuchtgruber; Natascha Förster-Schreiber; Kyle Franson; Reinhard Genzel; Stefan Gillessen; Eileen C. Gonzales; Michael Hartl; Jean Hayoz; Heinrich Huber; Christoph Keller; Kateryna Kravchenko; Jarron Leisenring; John Lightfoot; David Lunney; Dieter Lutz; Mike Macintosh; Filippo Mannucci; Stanimir Metchev; Thomas Ott; David Pearson; Alfio Puglisi; Sebastian Rabien; Christian Rau; Armando Riccardi; Bernardo Salasnich; Taro Shimizu; Frans Snik; Eckhard Sturm; Genaro Suárez; Linda Tacconi; Xianyu Tan; William Taylor; Christopher Waring; Marco Xompero

doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ae80a0

Direct Imaging Discovery of Giant Exoplanet β Pictoris d: A Decade-Long Game of Hide-and-Seek

Ben J. Sutlieff^*
, Markus J. Bonse^*
, Valentin Christiaens
, Clémence Fontanive
, Elisabeth C. Matthews
, Luke T. Parker
, Tim D. Pearce
, Jayne L. Birkby
, Beth A. Biller
, Trent J. Dupuy
, Emily O. Garvin
, Leyla Iskandarli
, Jens Kammerer
, Yifan Zhou
, Robert J. De Rosa
, Aarynn L. Carter
, Sasha Hinkley
, Matthew A. Kenworthy
, William O. Balmer
, Iain Hammond

James Mang, Caroline V. Morley, Mark J. Neeser, Olivier Absil, Anthony Boccaletti, Mariangela Bonavita, Brendan P. Bowler, Xueqing Chen, Felix A. Dannert, Julien H. Girard, Markus Kasper, Anne-Marie Lagrange, Pengyu Liu, Gilles Orban de Xivry, Michael Poon, Sascha P. Quanz, Benoît Serra, Johanna M. Vos, Kevin Wagner, Jason Wang, Bernhard Schölkopf, Guido Agapito, Alex Agudo Berbel, Dániel Apai, Andrea Baruffolo, Martin Black, Marco Bonaglia, Runa Briguglio, Yixian Cao, Luca Carbonaro, Lee Chapman, Giovanni Cresci, Yigit Dallilar, Richard Davies, Matthias Deysenroth, Ivan Di Antonio, Amico Di Cianno, Gianluca Di Rico, David Doelman, Mauro Dolci, Frank Eisenhauer, Simone Esposito, Debora Ferruzzi, Helmut Feuchtgruber, Natascha Förster-Schreiber, Kyle Franson, Reinhard Genzel, Stefan Gillessen, Eileen C. Gonzales, Michael Hartl, Jean Hayoz, Heinrich Huber, Christoph Keller, Kateryna Kravchenko, Jarron Leisenring, John Lightfoot, David Lunney, Dieter Lutz, Mike Macintosh, Filippo Mannucci, Stanimir Metchev, Thomas Ott, David Pearson, Alfio Puglisi, Sebastian Rabien, Christian Rau, Armando Riccardi, Bernardo Salasnich, Taro Shimizu, Frans Snik, Eckhard Sturm, Genaro Suárez, Linda Tacconi, Xianyu Tan, William Taylor, Christopher Waring, Marco Xompero

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Physics and Astronomy

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

We report the direct imaging discovery of a third exoplanet in the β Pictoris (β Pic) system. We detect β Pictoris d (β Pic d) in noncoronagraphic observations obtained with the Very Large Telescope (VLT) Enhanced Resolution Imager and Spectrograph (ERIS), as well as multi-epoch archival datasets from the JWST Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and VLT/SPHERE. Astrometric measurements over an 11 yr baseline demonstrate that it is consistent with a gravitationally bound source with orbital motion. Joint multi-planet orbit fits of all three planets in the system yield a semimajor axis of (Formula presented) 26.0−6.1+2.2 au and inclination (Formula presented) 89.0−0.6+0.7 deg for planet d. β Pic d has a larger orbital semimajor axis than the other known planets in the system, but is coplanar with the inner two planets, and its orbit is consistent with sculpting the inner edge of the debris disk. β Pic d has a contrast of (Formula presented) ΔL′=12.11±0.15 mag, with colors and luminosity that closely match those of 51 Eri b, another exoplanet in the β Pic moving group. Its VLT/ERIS and JWST/NIRCam colors are distinct from those of free-floating planetary-mass objects of a similar age and temperature. Its red F410M − F444W color indicates strong CO ₂ absorption in its atmosphere and suggests significant enhancement in metals compared to free-floating objects. From the ATMO hot-start evolutionary models, we estimate an effective temperature of (Formula presented) 600−60+45 K and mass of 2.4 ± 0.6 M _Jup, which also closely matches similar estimates for 51 Eri b. β Pic d is among the lowest-mass exoplanets imaged from the ground. This discovery highlights the deep sensitivity achievable with ground-based imaging in the mid-infrared and the discovery potential of future high-contrast observations with the Extremely Large Telescope.

Original language	English
Article number	L10
Pages (from-to)	1-20
Number of pages	20
Journal	Astrophysical Journal Letters
Volume	1006
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ae80a0
Publication status	Published - 15 Jul 2026

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

exoplanets (498)
exoplanet astronomy (486)
exoplanet systems (484)
direct imaging (387)
high contrast techniques (2369)
orbital motion (1179)
debris disks (363)
very large telescope (1767)
James Webb space telescope (2291)

Access to Document

10.3847/2041-8213/ae80a0Licence: Creative Commons: Attribution (CC-BY)

Sutlieff_2026_ApJL_1006_L10Final published version, 2.8 MBLicence: CC BY

https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.23801Licence: Creative Commons: Attribution (CC-BY)

1 Finished
1 Active

Direct Imaging Characterisation of Exoplanets: Studying Storms and Searching for Saturns
Biller, B. (Principal Investigator)
Science and Technology Facilities Council
1/07/25 → 30/06/28
Project: Research
Astronomy and Astrophysics at Edinburgh
Best, P. (Principal Investigator), Biller, B. (Co-investigator), Dave, R. (Co-investigator), Dunlop, J. (Co-investigator), Heymans, C. (Co-investigator), Khochfar, S. (Co-investigator), McLure, R. (Co-investigator), Palmer, P. (Co-investigator), Peacock, J. (Co-investigator), Rice, K. (Co-investigator), Smith, B. (Co-investigator) & Taylor, A. (Co-investigator)
Science and Technology Facilities Council
1/04/21 → 31/03/25
Project: Research

Cite this

Sutlieff, B. J., Bonse, M. J., Christiaens, V., Fontanive, C., Matthews, E. C., Parker, L. T., Pearce, T. D., Birkby, J. L., Biller, B. A., Dupuy, T. J., Garvin, E. O., Iskandarli, L., Kammerer, J., Zhou, Y., Rosa, R. J. D., Carter, A. L., Hinkley, S., Kenworthy, M. A., Balmer, W. O., ... Xompero, M. (2026). Direct Imaging Discovery of Giant Exoplanet β Pictoris d: A Decade-Long Game of Hide-and-Seek. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 1006(1), 1-20. Article L10. https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ae80a0

@article{e0d280a730b7447eab00863b150193f8,

title = "Direct Imaging Discovery of Giant Exoplanet β Pictoris d: A Decade-Long Game of Hide-and-Seek",

abstract = "We report the direct imaging discovery of a third exoplanet in the β Pictoris (β Pic) system. We detect β Pictoris d (β Pic d) in noncoronagraphic observations obtained with the Very Large Telescope (VLT) Enhanced Resolution Imager and Spectrograph (ERIS), as well as multi-epoch archival datasets from the JWST Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and VLT/SPHERE. Astrometric measurements over an 11 yr baseline demonstrate that it is consistent with a gravitationally bound source with orbital motion. Joint multi-planet orbit fits of all three planets in the system yield a semimajor axis of (Formula presented) 26.0−6.1+2.2 au and inclination (Formula presented) 89.0−0.6+0.7 deg for planet d. β Pic d has a larger orbital semimajor axis than the other known planets in the system, but is coplanar with the inner two planets, and its orbit is consistent with sculpting the inner edge of the debris disk. β Pic d has a contrast of (Formula presented) ΔL′=12.11±0.15 mag, with colors and luminosity that closely match those of 51 Eri b, another exoplanet in the β Pic moving group. Its VLT/ERIS and JWST/NIRCam colors are distinct from those of free-floating planetary-mass objects of a similar age and temperature. Its red F410M − F444W color indicates strong CO 2 absorption in its atmosphere and suggests significant enhancement in metals compared to free-floating objects. From the ATMO hot-start evolutionary models, we estimate an effective temperature of (Formula presented) 600−60+45 K and mass of 2.4 ± 0.6 M Jup, which also closely matches similar estimates for 51 Eri b. β Pic d is among the lowest-mass exoplanets imaged from the ground. This discovery highlights the deep sensitivity achievable with ground-based imaging in the mid-infrared and the discovery potential of future high-contrast observations with the Extremely Large Telescope.",

keywords = "exoplanets (498), exoplanet astronomy (486), exoplanet systems (484), direct imaging (387), high contrast techniques (2369), orbital motion (1179), debris disks (363), very large telescope (1767), James Webb space telescope (2291)",

author = "Sutlieff, \{Ben J.\} and Bonse, \{Markus J.\} and Valentin Christiaens and Cl{\'e}mence Fontanive and Matthews, \{Elisabeth C.\} and Parker, \{Luke T.\} and Pearce, \{Tim D.\} and Birkby, \{Jayne L.\} and Biller, \{Beth A.\} and Dupuy, \{Trent J.\} and Garvin, \{Emily O.\} and Leyla Iskandarli and Jens Kammerer and Yifan Zhou and Rosa, \{Robert J. De\} and Carter, \{Aarynn L.\} and Sasha Hinkley and Kenworthy, \{Matthew A.\} and Balmer, \{William O.\} and Iain Hammond and James Mang and Morley, \{Caroline V.\} and Neeser, \{Mark J.\} and Olivier Absil and Anthony Boccaletti and Mariangela Bonavita and Bowler, \{Brendan P.\} and Xueqing Chen and Dannert, \{Felix A.\} and Girard, \{Julien H.\} and Markus Kasper and Anne-Marie Lagrange and Pengyu Liu and \{de Xivry\}, \{Gilles Orban\} and Michael Poon and Quanz, \{Sascha P.\} and Beno{\^i}t Serra and Vos, \{Johanna M.\} and Kevin Wagner and Jason Wang and Bernhard Sch{\"o}lkopf and Guido Agapito and Berbel, \{Alex Agudo\} and D{\'a}niel Apai and Andrea Baruffolo and Martin Black and Marco Bonaglia and Runa Briguglio and Yixian Cao and Luca Carbonaro and Lee Chapman and Giovanni Cresci and Yigit Dallilar and Richard Davies and Matthias Deysenroth and Antonio, \{Ivan Di\} and Cianno, \{Amico Di\} and Rico, \{Gianluca Di\} and David Doelman and Mauro Dolci and Frank Eisenhauer and Simone Esposito and Debora Ferruzzi and Helmut Feuchtgruber and Natascha F{\"o}rster-Schreiber and Kyle Franson and Reinhard Genzel and Stefan Gillessen and Gonzales, \{Eileen C.\} and Michael Hartl and Jean Hayoz and Heinrich Huber and Christoph Keller and Kateryna Kravchenko and Jarron Leisenring and John Lightfoot and David Lunney and Dieter Lutz and Mike Macintosh and Filippo Mannucci and Stanimir Metchev and Thomas Ott and David Pearson and Alfio Puglisi and Sebastian Rabien and Christian Rau and Armando Riccardi and Bernardo Salasnich and Taro Shimizu and Frans Snik and Eckhard Sturm and Genaro Su{\'a}rez and Linda Tacconi and Xianyu Tan and William Taylor and Christopher Waring and Marco Xompero",

note = "B.J.S. and M.J.B. were equally responsible for leading this project as well as the preparation and presentation of this manuscript. B.J.S. led the coordination of the team. B.J.S. also led the analysis of the JWST/NIRCam data, and M.J.B. led the analysis of the VLT/ERIS and VLT/NaCo data. V.C. led the analysis of the VLT/SPHERE data with help of M.J.B. for the preliminary orbit fits. C.F. and T.D. led the orbit fitting analysis. E.C.M. and B.A.B. led the interpretation of the photometry of β Pic d. L.T.P. and B.J.S. ac- quired the VLT/ERIS observations. T.D.P. led the analysis of the implications of this discovery for the β Pictoris disk and system as a whole. J.L.B. and B.A.B. led the UK ERIS GTO team and were the PIs of the VLT/ERIS dataset that led to the discovery of β Pic d. Authors E.O.G. through B.S. provided relevant scientific expertise and contributed to the preparation of the manuscript. All other authors (G.A. through M.X.) are listed alphabetically and made crucial contributions to acquiring the observations described in this letter or designing and developing the VLT/ERIS instrument central to this work.",

year = "2026",

month = jul,

day = "15",

doi = "10.3847/2041-8213/ae80a0",

language = "English",

volume = "1006",

pages = "1--20",

journal = "Astrophysical Journal Letters",

issn = "2041-8205",

publisher = "American Astronomical Society",

number = "1",

}

Sutlieff, BJ, Bonse, MJ, Christiaens, V, Fontanive, C, Matthews, EC, Parker, LT, Pearce, TD, Birkby, JL, Biller, BA , Dupuy, TJ, Garvin, EO, Iskandarli, L, Kammerer, J, Zhou, Y, Rosa, RJD, Carter, AL, Hinkley, S, Kenworthy, MA, Balmer, WO, Hammond, I, Mang, J, Morley, CV, Neeser, MJ, Absil, O, Boccaletti, A, Bonavita, M, Bowler, BP, Chen, X, Dannert, FA, Girard, JH, Kasper, M, Lagrange, A-M, Liu, P, de Xivry, GO, Poon, M, Quanz, SP, Serra, B, Vos, JM, Wagner, K, Wang, J, Schölkopf, B, Agapito, G, Berbel, AA, Apai, D, Baruffolo, A, Black, M, Bonaglia, M, Briguglio, R, Cao, Y, Carbonaro, L, Chapman, L, Cresci, G, Dallilar, Y, Davies, R, Deysenroth, M, Antonio, ID, Cianno, AD, Rico, GD, Doelman, D, Dolci, M, Eisenhauer, F, Esposito, S, Ferruzzi, D, Feuchtgruber, H, Förster-Schreiber, N, Franson, K, Genzel, R, Gillessen, S, Gonzales, EC, Hartl, M, Hayoz, J, Huber, H, Keller, C, Kravchenko, K, Leisenring, J, Lightfoot, J, Lunney, D, Lutz, D, Macintosh, M, Mannucci, F, Metchev, S, Ott, T, Pearson, D, Puglisi, A, Rabien, S, Rau, C, Riccardi, A, Salasnich, B, Shimizu, T, Snik, F, Sturm, E, Suárez, G, Tacconi, L, Tan, X, Taylor, W, Waring, C & Xompero, M 2026, 'Direct Imaging Discovery of Giant Exoplanet β Pictoris d: A Decade-Long Game of Hide-and-Seek', Astrophysical Journal Letters, vol. 1006, no. 1, L10, pp. 1-20. https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ae80a0

TY - JOUR

T1 - Direct Imaging Discovery of Giant Exoplanet β Pictoris d: A Decade-Long Game of Hide-and-Seek

AU - Sutlieff, Ben J.

AU - Bonse, Markus J.

AU - Christiaens, Valentin

AU - Fontanive, Clémence

AU - Matthews, Elisabeth C.

AU - Parker, Luke T.

AU - Pearce, Tim D.

AU - Birkby, Jayne L.

AU - Biller, Beth A.

AU - Dupuy, Trent J.

AU - Garvin, Emily O.

AU - Iskandarli, Leyla

AU - Kammerer, Jens

AU - Zhou, Yifan

AU - Rosa, Robert J. De

AU - Carter, Aarynn L.

AU - Hinkley, Sasha

AU - Kenworthy, Matthew A.

AU - Balmer, William O.

AU - Hammond, Iain

AU - Mang, James

AU - Morley, Caroline V.

AU - Neeser, Mark J.

AU - Absil, Olivier

AU - Boccaletti, Anthony

AU - Bonavita, Mariangela

AU - Bowler, Brendan P.

AU - Chen, Xueqing

AU - Dannert, Felix A.

AU - Girard, Julien H.

AU - Kasper, Markus

AU - Lagrange, Anne-Marie

AU - Liu, Pengyu

AU - de Xivry, Gilles Orban

AU - Poon, Michael

AU - Quanz, Sascha P.

AU - Serra, Benoît

AU - Vos, Johanna M.

AU - Wagner, Kevin

AU - Wang, Jason

AU - Schölkopf, Bernhard

AU - Agapito, Guido

AU - Berbel, Alex Agudo

AU - Apai, Dániel

AU - Baruffolo, Andrea

AU - Black, Martin

AU - Bonaglia, Marco

AU - Briguglio, Runa

AU - Cao, Yixian

AU - Carbonaro, Luca

AU - Chapman, Lee

AU - Cresci, Giovanni

AU - Dallilar, Yigit

AU - Davies, Richard

AU - Deysenroth, Matthias

AU - Antonio, Ivan Di

AU - Cianno, Amico Di

AU - Rico, Gianluca Di

AU - Doelman, David

AU - Dolci, Mauro

AU - Eisenhauer, Frank

AU - Esposito, Simone

AU - Ferruzzi, Debora

AU - Feuchtgruber, Helmut

AU - Förster-Schreiber, Natascha

AU - Franson, Kyle

AU - Genzel, Reinhard

AU - Gillessen, Stefan

AU - Gonzales, Eileen C.

AU - Hartl, Michael

AU - Hayoz, Jean

AU - Huber, Heinrich

AU - Keller, Christoph

AU - Kravchenko, Kateryna

AU - Leisenring, Jarron

AU - Lightfoot, John

AU - Lunney, David

AU - Lutz, Dieter

AU - Macintosh, Mike

AU - Mannucci, Filippo

AU - Metchev, Stanimir

AU - Ott, Thomas

AU - Pearson, David

AU - Puglisi, Alfio

AU - Rabien, Sebastian

AU - Rau, Christian

AU - Riccardi, Armando

AU - Salasnich, Bernardo

AU - Shimizu, Taro

AU - Snik, Frans

AU - Sturm, Eckhard

AU - Suárez, Genaro

AU - Tacconi, Linda

AU - Tan, Xianyu

AU - Taylor, William

AU - Waring, Christopher

AU - Xompero, Marco

N1 - B.J.S. and M.J.B. were equally responsible for leading this project as well as the preparation and presentation of this manuscript. B.J.S. led the coordination of the team. B.J.S. also led the analysis of the JWST/NIRCam data, and M.J.B. led the analysis of the VLT/ERIS and VLT/NaCo data. V.C. led the analysis of the VLT/SPHERE data with help of M.J.B. for the preliminary orbit fits. C.F. and T.D. led the orbit fitting analysis. E.C.M. and B.A.B. led the interpretation of the photometry of β Pic d. L.T.P. and B.J.S. ac- quired the VLT/ERIS observations. T.D.P. led the analysis of the implications of this discovery for the β Pictoris disk and system as a whole. J.L.B. and B.A.B. led the UK ERIS GTO team and were the PIs of the VLT/ERIS dataset that led to the discovery of β Pic d. Authors E.O.G. through B.S. provided relevant scientific expertise and contributed to the preparation of the manuscript. All other authors (G.A. through M.X.) are listed alphabetically and made crucial contributions to acquiring the observations described in this letter or designing and developing the VLT/ERIS instrument central to this work.

PY - 2026/7/15

Y1 - 2026/7/15

N2 - We report the direct imaging discovery of a third exoplanet in the β Pictoris (β Pic) system. We detect β Pictoris d (β Pic d) in noncoronagraphic observations obtained with the Very Large Telescope (VLT) Enhanced Resolution Imager and Spectrograph (ERIS), as well as multi-epoch archival datasets from the JWST Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and VLT/SPHERE. Astrometric measurements over an 11 yr baseline demonstrate that it is consistent with a gravitationally bound source with orbital motion. Joint multi-planet orbit fits of all three planets in the system yield a semimajor axis of (Formula presented) 26.0−6.1+2.2 au and inclination (Formula presented) 89.0−0.6+0.7 deg for planet d. β Pic d has a larger orbital semimajor axis than the other known planets in the system, but is coplanar with the inner two planets, and its orbit is consistent with sculpting the inner edge of the debris disk. β Pic d has a contrast of (Formula presented) ΔL′=12.11±0.15 mag, with colors and luminosity that closely match those of 51 Eri b, another exoplanet in the β Pic moving group. Its VLT/ERIS and JWST/NIRCam colors are distinct from those of free-floating planetary-mass objects of a similar age and temperature. Its red F410M − F444W color indicates strong CO 2 absorption in its atmosphere and suggests significant enhancement in metals compared to free-floating objects. From the ATMO hot-start evolutionary models, we estimate an effective temperature of (Formula presented) 600−60+45 K and mass of 2.4 ± 0.6 M Jup, which also closely matches similar estimates for 51 Eri b. β Pic d is among the lowest-mass exoplanets imaged from the ground. This discovery highlights the deep sensitivity achievable with ground-based imaging in the mid-infrared and the discovery potential of future high-contrast observations with the Extremely Large Telescope.

AB - We report the direct imaging discovery of a third exoplanet in the β Pictoris (β Pic) system. We detect β Pictoris d (β Pic d) in noncoronagraphic observations obtained with the Very Large Telescope (VLT) Enhanced Resolution Imager and Spectrograph (ERIS), as well as multi-epoch archival datasets from the JWST Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and VLT/SPHERE. Astrometric measurements over an 11 yr baseline demonstrate that it is consistent with a gravitationally bound source with orbital motion. Joint multi-planet orbit fits of all three planets in the system yield a semimajor axis of (Formula presented) 26.0−6.1+2.2 au and inclination (Formula presented) 89.0−0.6+0.7 deg for planet d. β Pic d has a larger orbital semimajor axis than the other known planets in the system, but is coplanar with the inner two planets, and its orbit is consistent with sculpting the inner edge of the debris disk. β Pic d has a contrast of (Formula presented) ΔL′=12.11±0.15 mag, with colors and luminosity that closely match those of 51 Eri b, another exoplanet in the β Pic moving group. Its VLT/ERIS and JWST/NIRCam colors are distinct from those of free-floating planetary-mass objects of a similar age and temperature. Its red F410M − F444W color indicates strong CO 2 absorption in its atmosphere and suggests significant enhancement in metals compared to free-floating objects. From the ATMO hot-start evolutionary models, we estimate an effective temperature of (Formula presented) 600−60+45 K and mass of 2.4 ± 0.6 M Jup, which also closely matches similar estimates for 51 Eri b. β Pic d is among the lowest-mass exoplanets imaged from the ground. This discovery highlights the deep sensitivity achievable with ground-based imaging in the mid-infrared and the discovery potential of future high-contrast observations with the Extremely Large Telescope.

KW - exoplanets (498)

KW - exoplanet astronomy (486)

KW - exoplanet systems (484)

KW - direct imaging (387)

KW - high contrast techniques (2369)

KW - orbital motion (1179)

KW - debris disks (363)

KW - very large telescope (1767)

KW - James Webb space telescope (2291)

U2 - 10.3847/2041-8213/ae80a0

DO - 10.3847/2041-8213/ae80a0

M3 - Article

SN - 2041-8205

VL - 1006

SP - 1

EP - 20

JO - Astrophysical Journal Letters

JF - Astrophysical Journal Letters

IS - 1

M1 - L10

ER -

Direct Imaging Discovery of Giant Exoplanet β Pictoris d: A Decade-Long Game of Hide-and-Seek

Abstract

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Projects

Direct Imaging Characterisation of Exoplanets: Studying Storms and Searching for Saturns

Astronomy and Astrophysics at Edinburgh

Cite this