β Pic b Archives - Astrobiology

Two orders of high-resolution spectra with the best-fit model overplotted in yellow for each target. The observation on the first day (September 21, 2022) is chosen for 2MASS J0249-0557 c. The wavelength range is selected to include the 12CO and 13CO bandheads. -- astro-ph.EP

Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Beta Pictoris, Brown Dwarfs, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Status Report

Chemistry And Isotope Ratios Of Substellar Atmospheres In The β Pictoris Young Moving Group

by Keith CowingMay 6, 2026May 6, 2026

Measuring the chemical and isotopic compositions of gas giants and brown dwarfs provides insights into their formation pathways and birth environments. 2MASS J0249-0557 c is an L2-type planetary mass companion […]

Analytical predictions for the astrometric effect of a moon with varying mass and distance to HD 206893 B. GRAVITY could in principle detect moons lower than a Neptune mass at larger periods. The fit of the GRAVITY data is shown as a green point assuming the mass and period as upper limits in our tentative detection. The orange area shows the plausible parameter space where a moon could be located, and still be potentially detectable with GRAVITY assuming an astrometric accuracy of 10 µas (see section 3.3). -- astro-ph.EP

Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

Exomoon Search With VLTI/GRAVITY Around The Substellar Companion HD 206893 B

by Keith CowingNovember 26, 2025June 10, 2026

Direct astrometric detection of exomoons remains unexplored. This study presents the first application of high-precision astrometry to search for exomoons around substellar companions.

Directly-imaged exoplanets accrete on average ⪆50 M⊕ solids to enrich their atmospheres. Each violin shape shows the inferred accretion solid mass distribution (vertical axis) for a directly-imaged exoplanet. The median of the overall distribution is represented by the white point, and the 25% and 75% percentiles are represented by the thick line. An average value of 53.5 M⊕ is given as the horizontal dotted line. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Brown Dwarfs, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Interstellar, Status Report

Early Accretion of Large Amounts of Solids for Directly-Imaged Exoplanets

by Keith CowingFebruary 10, 2025February 10, 2025

As the number of planetary mass objects (PMOs, ⪅13 MJupiter) at wider separation (⪆10 AU) grows, there is emerging evidence that they form differently from their higher-mass brown-dwarf (BD) counterparts.

Full light curve of all available observations of the star β Pictoris used in this work. -- astro-ph.EP

Astronomy & Telescopes, Beta Pictoris, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

The β Pictoris b Hill Sphere Transit Campaign. Paper II: Searching for the Signatures of the β Pictoris Exoplanets Through Time Delay Analysis of the δ Scuti Pulsations

by Keith CowingJune 11, 2024June 11, 2024

The β Pictoris system is the closest known stellar system with directly detected gas giant planets, an edge-on circumstellar disc, and evidence of falling sublimating bodies and transiting exocomets. The […]

PSF-subtracted JWST/NIRCam (left) and MIRI (right) images of the β Pic system (arbitrary color stretch). Five background sources were identified based on their NIRCam colors or morphology whose positions are highlighted in both images with red circles. The orange circles in the NIRCam image show the source positions rotated by the telescope roll angle, where negative ADI residuals are visible. BG4 appears to be the only source which is also visible in the MIRI image. The MIRI image was adapted from Rebollido et al. (2024). -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Beta Pictoris, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release

JWST-TST High Contrast: JWST/NIRCam Observations Of The Young Giant Planet β Pic b

by Keith CowingMay 30, 2024May 30, 2024

We present the first JWST/NIRCam observations of the directly-imaged gas giant exoplanet β Pic b. Observations in six filters using NIRCam’s round coronagraphic masks provide a high signal-to-noise detection of […]

Cross-correlation maps produced using models broadened to the measured rotational broadening of each molecule. These CCFs are predicted to show stronger detections as the models used more closely match the broadened planetary lines in the data, and the influence of noise sources on the scale of a single resolution element in the CCF are suppressed. Most notably, when cross-correlating with an SiO model broadened to the 22 km s−1 rotational broadening measured from the H2O CCF, the evidence for the tentative SiO signal increases to an S/N = 4.3, while other regions are suppressed, suggesting a potential planetary origin. The CO signal is boosted to S/N = 6.6 and the H2O signal is now above the S/N = 5 threshold for a detection, with an S/N = 5.7. Cross-correlation with a broadened model containing CO, H2O, and SiO produces the strongest detection of all models tested, with a S/N = 7.5. The CCFs produced using the H2O model and the model containing all three molecular opacities show an offset from the expected velocity, which is discussed further in Section 6.3. To reduce the impact of correlated signals the noise estimates for these CCFs are measured from a down-sampled CCF, with the planet signal excluded (see Section 4.7). For clarity, and following the convention for HCS, the CCFs are presented here at the 1.5 km s−1 CRIRES+ pixel resolution. -- astro-ph.EP

Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

Into The Red: An M-band Study of the Chemistry and Rotation of β Pictoris b at High Spectral Resolution

by Keith CowingMay 16, 2024May 16, 2024

High-resolution cross-correlation spectroscopy (HRCCS) combined with adaptive optics has been enormously successful in advancing our knowledge of exoplanet atmospheres, from chemistry to rotation and atmospheric dynamics.