A probable giant planet imaged in the beta Pictoris disk. VLT/NaCo deep L'-band imaging - Archive ouverte HAL Accéder directement au contenu
Article Dans Une Revue Astronomy and Astrophysics - A&A Année : 2009

A probable giant planet imaged in the beta Pictoris disk. VLT/NaCo deep L'-band imaging

D. Gratadour
  • Fonction : Auteur
G. Chauvin
T. Fusco
  • Fonction : Auteur
G. Rousset
  • Fonction : Auteur
D. Rouan
  • Fonction : Auteur
F. Allard
  • Fonction : Auteur
É. Gendron
  • Fonction : Auteur
L. Mugnier
  • Fonction : Auteur
J. Montri
  • Fonction : Auteur
F. Lacombe
  • Fonction : Auteur

Résumé

Context: Since the discovery of its dusty disk in 1984, β 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. Aims: Our goal was to investigate the close environment of β Pic, searching for planetary companion(s). Methods: Deep adaptive-optics L'-band images of β Pic were recorded using the NaCo instrument at the Very Large Telescope. Results: A faint point-like signal is detected at a projected distance of ≃8 AU from the star, within the northeastern extension of the dust disk. Various tests were made to rule out possible instrumental or atmospheric artefacts at a good confidence level. The probability of a foreground or background contaminant is extremely low, based in addition on the analysis of previous deep HST images. Its L'=11.2 apparent magnitude would indicate a typical temperature of ~1500 K and a mass of ~8 M_Jup. If confirmed, it could explain the main morphological and dynamical peculiarities of the β 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 β Pic disk suggest a formation process by core accretion or disk instabilities rather than binary-like formation processes. Based on observations collected at the European Southern Observatory, Chile, ESO (runs 072.C-0624(B) and 60.A-9026(A)) and on observations made with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph onboard the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.

Dates et versions

hal-00479881 , version 1 (03-05-2010)

Identifiants

Citer

A.-M. Lagrange, D. Gratadour, G. Chauvin, T. Fusco, D. Ehrenreich, et al.. A probable giant planet imaged in the beta Pictoris disk. VLT/NaCo deep L'-band imaging. Astronomy and Astrophysics - A&A, 2009, 493, pp.L21. ⟨10.1051/0004-6361:200811325⟩. ⟨hal-00479881⟩
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