THE GEMINI NICI PLANET-FINDING CAMPAIGN: THE ORBIT OF THE YOUNG EXOPLANET β PICTORIS b
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We present new astrometry for the young (12–21 Myr) exoplanet β Pictoris b taken with the Gemini/NICI and Magellan/MagAO instruments between 2009 and 2012. The high dynamic range of our observations allows us to measure the relative position of β Pic b with respect to its primary star with greater accuracy than previous observations. Based on a Markov Chain Monte Carlo analysis, we find the planet has an orbital semi-major axis of 9.1 AU and orbital eccentricity <0.15 at 68% confidence (with 95% confidence intervals of 8.2–48 AU and 0.00–0.82 for semi-major axis and eccentricity, respectively, due to a long narrow degenerate tail between the two). We find that the planet has reached its maximum projected elongation, enabling higher precision determination of the orbital parameters than previously possible, and that the planet's projected separation is currently decreasing. With unsaturated data of the entire β Pic system (primary star, planet, and disk) obtained thanks to NICI's semi-transparent focal plane mask, we are able to tightly constrain the relative orientation of the circumstellar components. We find the orbital plane of the planet lies between the inner and outer disks: the position angle (P.A.) of nodes for the planet's orbit (211.8 ± 0 3) is 7.4σ greater than the P.A. of the spine of the outer disk and 3.2σ less than the warped inner disk P.A., indicating the disk is not collisionally relaxed. Finally, for the first time we are able to dynamically constrain the mass of the primary star β Pic to 1.76 M ☉ .
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The orbit for β Pictoris b is close to edge-on, indicating that it might transit its parent star.
“The orbit for β Pictoris b is close to edge-on (Nielsen et al. 2014), indicating that it might transit its parent star.”
From MODELING GIANT EXTRASOLAR RING SYSTEMS IN ECLIPSE AND THE CASE OF J1407B: SCULPTING BY EXOMOONS? (2015) · cites this paper as Nielsen et al. 2014
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Research works printed but not linked: 2
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- Murray, C. D., & Dermott, S. F. 1999, Solar System Dynamics (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press)
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MODELING GIANT EXTRASOLAR RING SYSTEMS IN ECLIPSE AND THE CASE OF J1407B: SCULPTING BY EXOMOONS?
Kenworthy, M. A., & Mamajek, E. E. (2015) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1088/0004-637x/800/2/126 · Cited by 123 · see citing works
“The orbit for β Pictoris b is close to edge on (Nielsen et al. 2014), indicating that it might transit its parent star.”
Background
- Authors
- Nielsen, E. L., Liu, M. C., Wahhaj, Z., Biller, B. A., Hayward, T. L., Males, J. R., Close, L. M., Morzinski, K. M., Skemer, A. J., Kuchner, M. J., Rodigas, T. J., Hinz, P. M., Chun, M., Ftaclas, C., & Toomey, D. W.
- Affiliations
- University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (US)
- European Southern Observatory (CL)
- Royal Observatory (GB)
- International Gemini Observatory (US)
- University of Arizona (US)
- Goddard Space Flight Center (US)
- Carnegie Institution for Science (US)
- ORCID
- Venue
- The Astrophysical Journal
- Publisher
- American Astronomical Society
- Published
- 2014-10-07
- Volume
- 794
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 158
- ISSN
- 0004-637X (ISSN-L)
- 1538-4357
- OpenAlex
- W2157873305
- Cited by
- 46
- References
- 46
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 10
- FWCI
- 4.67
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- The Astrophysical Journal (publishedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (0713881, 0709484, NAS 5-26555)
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NAS 526555, 526555)
- Space Telescope Science Institute (NAS5- 26555, 5-26555, 26555)
- Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
- Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico
- Science and Technology Facilities Council
- Comisión Nacional de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Astro and Planetary Science
- Keywords
- Beta Pictoris b, orbital elements, orbital eccentricity, disk warping, planet-disk interaction, stellar mass estimation, young exoplanets
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