Planet-hunting SPHERE images first circumbinary planet system with disc

Eso_potw1543a_1024

eso_potw1543a October 26th, 2015

Credit: ESO, A. M. Lagrange (Université Grenoble Alpes)

Observations by ESO’s planet-finding instrument, SPHERE, a high-contrast adaptive optics system installed on the third Unit Telescope of ESO’s Very Large Telescope, have revealed the edge-on disc of gas and dust present around the binary star system HD 106906AB. HD 106906AB is a double star located in the constellation of Crux (The Southern Cross). Astronomers had long suspected that this 13 million-year-old stellar duo was encircled by a debris disc, due to the system’s youth and characteristic radiation. However, this disc had remained unseen — until now! The system’s spectacular debris disc can be seen towards the lower left area of this image. It is surrounding both stars, hence its name of circumbinary disc. The stars themselves are hidden behind a mask which prevent their glare from blinding the instrument. These stars and the disc are also accompanied by an exoplanet, visible in the upper right, named HD 106906 b, which orbits around the binary star and its disc at a distance greater than any other exoplanet discovered to date — 650 times the average Earth–Sun distance, or nearly 97 billion kilometres. HD 106906 b has a mammoth mass of up to 11 times that of Jupiter, and a scorching surface temperature of 1500 degrees Celsius. Thanks to SPHERE, HD 106906AB has become the first binary star system to have both an exoplanet and a debris disc successfully imaged, providing astronomers with a unique opportunity to study the complex process of circumbinary planet formation.

Provider: European Southern Observatory

Image Source: https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw1543a/

Curator: European Southern Observatory, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
HD 106906AB HD 106906 b
Subject - Local Universe
Star > Grouping > Binary
Eso_potw1543a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 12h 17m 52.0s
DEC = -55° 58’ 23.5”
Orientation
North is up
Field of View
0.6 x 0.5 arcminutes
Constellation
Crux

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Blue VLT (SPHERE) Infrared (K1K2) 2.3 µm
Spectrum_base
Blue
Eso_potw1543a_1280
×
ID
potw1543a
Subject Category
C.3.6.1  
Subject Name
HD 106906AB, HD 106906 b
Credits
ESO, A. M. Lagrange (Université Grenoble Alpes)
Release Date
2015-10-26T10:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw1543a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Very Large Telescope
Instrument
SPHERE
Color Assignment
Blue
Band
Infrared
Bandpass
K1K2
Central Wavelength
2250
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
184.466632273, -55.9732041954
Reference Dimension
1348.0, 1182.0
Reference Pixel
674.0, 591.0
Scale
-6.95710876354e-06, 6.95710876354e-06
Rotation
-0
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
European Southern Observatory
URL
http://www.eso.org/
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2
City
Garching bei München
State/Province
Postal Code
D-85748
Country
Germany
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
European Southern Observatory
Publisher ID
eso
Resource ID
potw1543a
Metadata Date
2023-10-11T09:21:42.209789
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

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