Beta Pictoris c
Planet· orbits Beta Pictoris
Beta Pictoris c — a giant planet of about 9 Jupiter masses on a ~3.3-year orbit at ~2.7 AU, found in 2019 by radial velocity (and later confirmed by interferometry). Young and warm; its mass is a measurement but its size is a model estimate, so no density is quoted.
Open in 3D viewSee Beta Pictoris c in the live, interactive 3D map
Key facts
Mass
1.69 × 10²⁸ kg
8.9 M♃ (2,830 M⊕)
Year
3.29 Earth years
1,202 Earth days
Distance from Beta Pictoris
2.7 AU
Science
Physical
- Mass
- 1.69 × 10²⁸ kg · 8.9 M♃ (2,830 M⊕)
- Radius
- Not measured
- Found by radial velocity + interferometry (a measured mass, ~9 Jupiter) but never transited, so its size is a model estimate and no density is quoted.
Orbital
- Semi-major axis
- 2.7 AU
- From the NASA Exoplanet Archive (radial velocity + interferometry)
- Eccentricity
- 0.307
- From the NASA Exoplanet Archive (radial velocity + interferometry)
- Inclination
- 0.00 °
- From the NASA Exoplanet Archive (radial velocity + interferometry)
- Orbital period
- 3.29 years
- From the NASA Exoplanet Archive (radial velocity + interferometry)
- Perihelion
- 1.87 AU
- Computed from the orbital elements
- Aphelion
- 3.53 AU
- Computed from the orbital elements
- Mean orbital velocity
- 24.4 km/s
- Computed from the orbital elements
Composition
- Bulk composition
- A young gas giant of ~9 Jupiter masses at ~2.7 AU, warm from formation. Hydrogen/helium; unimaged as a surface.
- Cloud appearance
- Appearance based on NASA/JPL-Caltech's artist's concept. No spacecraft has imaged this world, so its real appearance is unknown — The banded clouds shown are a representation of its class, shown only in Visual mode; Realism shows a plain spectral colour.
Radiation & temperature
- Insolation
- 1.23 S⊕ · 1.23× the sunlight Earth receives
- Computed from Beta Pictoris's luminosity and the orbital distance (inverse-square; Earth's sunlight = 1).
Discovery & history
- Method
- Radial-velocity detection (stellar wobble)
- Name
- Designated 'c' under the IAU planet-lettering convention; no IAU proper name.
Detected in 2019 from the star's radial-velocity wobble — the second planet of the system, orbiting closer in than the imaged Beta Pic b.
Images
Found only by its gravitational pull on the star (radial velocity) — never imaged. See the system view for photographs of the star, its debris disk and its imaged sibling Beta Pictoris b.