Results from the Beta Pictoris b Hill Sphere Transit Campaign
Abstract
Beta Pictoris b is the only extrasolar gas giant planet that has been directly imaged and has an edge-on orbit that causes the planet's Hill sphere to transit approximately every 22 years. Based on multi-epoch direct imaging observations from the Gemini Planet Imager, the Hill sphere began transiting in April 2017, with closest approach to within 20% of the 1.2au Hill sphere radius in August 2017.
We present the results from the combined space and ground based photometric campaigns that cover the entirety of the Hill sphere transit during 2017 and the first half of 2018, to search for signs of circumplanetary dust and rings. These include a dedicated monitoring instrument in South Africa and Australia (the bRing project), the BRITE-Constellation nanosatellites, two telescopes in Antarctica (ASTEP and AST3) and HST/COS data.- Publication:
-
AAS/Division for Extreme Solar Systems Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- August 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019ESS.....432206K