VLT image of the Beta Pictoris d exoplanet
eso_eso2609a July 15th, 2026
Credit: ESO/B. Sutlieff, M. Bonse et al.
This image, taken with ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) shows Beta Pictoris d, a new planet found orbiting the star Beta Pictoris. The star is at the centre of the frame, and was subtracted when processing the data, revealing the environment around it. The new planet, indicated with an arrow, is the third one found around this star. The other two are Beta Pictoris b –– the bright source to the left, and Beta Pictoris c, orbiting much closer to the star and not seen here. The image was taken with the ERIS instrument at the VLT. Based on its infrared brightness and colour, the new planet appears to be a gas giant, about 2.4 times more massive than Jupiter. The diffuse horizontal band in this image is a debris disc around the star, seen here edge-on, the leftover material of planetary formation.
Provider: European Southern Observatory
Image Source: https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso2609a/
Curator: European Southern Observatory, Garching bei München, None, Germany
Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
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Image Details
Position Details
Color Mapping
- ID
- eso2609a
- Subject Category
- B.1
- Subject Name
- Beta Pictoris d
- Credits
- ESO/B. Sutlieff, M. Bonse et al.
- Release Date
- 2026-07-15T14:00:00
- Lightyears
- Redshift
- Reference Url
- https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso2609a/
- Type
- Observation
- Image Quality
- Distance Notes
- Facility
- Very Large Telescope
- Instrument
- ERIS
- Color Assignment
- Orange
- Band
- Infrared
- Bandpass
- L'
- Central Wavelength
- 3790
- Start Time
- Integration Time
- Dataset ID
- None
- Notes
- Coordinate Frame
- ICRS
- Equinox
- J2000
- Reference Value
- 86.821208, -51.066511
- Reference Dimension
- 1600.0, 1000.0
- Reference Pixel
- 800.5, 800.5
- Scale
- -9.3e-07, 9.3e-07
- Rotation
- 59.5
- Coordinate System Projection:
- TAN
- Quality
- Full
- FITS Header
- Notes
- Creator (Curator)
- European Southern Observatory
- URL
- https://www.eso.org
- Name
- Telephone
- Address
- Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2
- City
- Garching bei München
- State/Province
- None
- Postal Code
- D-85748
- Country
- Germany
- Rights
- Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
- Publisher
- European Southern Observatory
- Publisher ID
- eso
- Resource ID
- eso2609a
- Resource URL
- https://www.eso.org/public/archives/images/original/eso2609a.tif
- Related Resources
- Metadata Date
- 2026-06-29T11:01:10+02:00
- Metadata Version
- 1.1
Detailed color mapping information coming soon...
