Elusive planet found after years of hide-and-seek

Astronomers have discovered a third exoplanet orbiting a young star known as Beta Pictoris – located around 63 light years away from Earth – a study reveals.

VLT image of Beta Pictoris d exoplanet. Credit ESOB. Sutlieff, M. Bonse et al.
VLT image of Beta Pictoris d exoplanet. Credit ESOB. Sutlieff, M. Bonse et al.

The newly discovered planet, called Beta Pictoris d, is 100 times fainter than Beta Pictoris b – the first planet to be discovered in the system.  

Researchers also found that the newcomer has a much wider orbit than its planetary friends - Beta Pictoris b and Beta Pictoris c. Moreover, while the first two planets are each around ten times the mass of Jupiter, Beta Pictoris d is only 2.4 times more massive than Jupiter, making it one of the lightest ever planets imaged from the ground.

Amazing find

An international team of scientists, including researchers from Edinburgh’s Institute for Astronomy, uncovered the faint planet in new images from the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) in Chile, as well as in more than a decade’s worth of archive data.

The team initially wanted to take a closer look at Beta Pictoris b, to observe how it had changed over time. However, when they started analysing the images of the system, they noticed something else that led the team down an entirely new path. 

Cosmic technology

Astronomers first detected Beta Pictoris d using ERIS – a powerful infrared camera mounted on ESO’s VLT – and built by the Science and Technology Council’s Astronomy Technology Centre (UK ATC) based in Edinburgh.

To confirm the nature of their detection, the team looked through ESO’s archive of past observations and found the new planet, Beta Pictoris d, in multiple images dating back as far as 11 years ago.

Related research

An independent team led by the University of California also detected Beta Pictoris d using the James Webb Space Telescope. Their findings are published alongside these results in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

The discovery brings the total number of known planets in the Beta Pictoris system to three. Making it only the second system where more than two planets have been directly imaged along with the star HR 8799. 

Future discoveries

The research highlights how cutting-edge instrumentation, combined with astronomical archives spanning decades, can uncover worlds that have remained hidden in plain sight.

The study, published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, was chiefly funded by the Science and Technology Facilities Council.

This was a serendipitous discovery. Star systems with multiple imaged exoplanets are the ‘holy grails’ of discoveries because they can teach us a lot about what different exoplanets are like in the same formation environment.

Dr Ben Sutlieff Study co-lead and Postdoctoral Research Associate, Institute for Astronomy.

Planets seem to have friends. Many of the famous directly imaged exoplanet systems seem to have multiple giant planets in the same system. It is likely there are even more lower mass planets hiding in these systems that might be revealed in future.

Professor Beth Biller Study co-lead and Personal Chair of Exoplanet Characterisation, Institute for Astronomy.

There’s something else there, did you see it? The new planet is 100 times fainter than Beta Pictoris b, the famous planet in the same system, making it the faintest exoplanet ever imaged directly from Earth.

Markus Bonse Study co-lead and ESO astronomer.

Detecting a planet this faint next to a much brighter star is an immense technical challenge, and it is rewarding to see an instrument we built here in Edinburgh helping astronomers uncover new worlds.

William Taylor Instrument scientist at UK ATC.

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2026
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