Astronomers have observed the exoplanet Beta Pictoris b almost long enough to catch a full orbit!
In this new video, the planet (the blue dot) orbits around its host star. The bright star is blocked by a coronagraph (the black disk) so we can see the faint light from the planet.
It was made by interpolating between 30 frames of data taken over 17 years from the Gemini Planet Imager, VLT/NACO, and VLT/SPHERE.
https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2023/08/watch-an-exoplanets-17-year-journey-around-its-star/
Credit: Jason Wang & Malachi Noel https://jasonwang.space/orbits.html
Edited 259d ago