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An early extrasolar planetary system revealed by planetesimal belts in β Pictoris - Nature

  • ️Sakon, Itsuki
  • ️Thu Oct 07 2004
  • Letter
  • Published: 07 October 2004

Nature volume 431, pages 660–663 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

β Pictoris (β Pic) is a main-sequence star with an edge-on dust disk1,2,3 that might represent a state of the early Solar System. The dust does not seem to be a remnant from the original protoplanetary disk, but rather is thought to have been generated from large bodies like planetesimals and/or comets4,5. The history and composition of the parent bodies can therefore be revealed by determining the spatial distribution, grain size, composition and crystallinity of the dust through high-resolution mid-infrared observations. Here we report that the sub-micrometre amorphous silicate grains around β Pic have peaks in their distribution around 6, 16 and 30 au (1 au is the Sun–Earth distance), whereas the crystalline and micrometre-sized amorphous silicate grains are concentrated in the disk centre. As sub-micrometre grains are blown quickly out from the system by radiation pressure from the central star, the peaks indicate the locations of ongoing dust replenishment, which originates from ring-like distributions of planetesimals or ‘planetesimal belts’.

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Acknowledgements

This Letter is based on data collected at the Subaru Telescope, which is operated by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. We thank C. Koike, I. Yamamura, F. Usui, S. Hasegawa, T. Ootsubo, H. Chihara, T. Nakamoto, H. Tanaka and T. Takeuchi for comments and discussions.

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Author notes

  1. Yoshiko Kataza Okamoto

    Present address: Institute of Astrophysics and Planetary Sciences, Ibaraki University, Bunkyo 2-1-1, Mito, Ibaraki, 310-8512, Japan

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Natural Sciences, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Kitasato University, 1-15-1 Kitazato, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, 228-8555, Japan

    Yoshiko Kataza Okamoto

  2. Department of Infrared Astrophysics, Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, 3-1-1 Yoshinodai, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, 229-8510, Japan

    Yoshiko Kataza Okamoto & Hirokazu Kataza

  3. Department of Astronomy, Graduate School of Science, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan

    Mitsuhiko Honda, Takashi Onaka & Itsuki Sakon

  4. Subaru Telescope, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, 650 North A'ohoku Place, Hilo, Hawaii, 96720, USA

    Takuya Yamashita & Takuya Fujiyoshi

  5. National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, 2-21-1 Osawa, 181-8588, Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan

    Jun-ichi Watanabe

  6. Institute of Astronomy, School of Science, University of Tokyo, 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo, 181-0015, Japan

    Takashi Miyata & Shigeyuki Sako

Authors

  1. Yoshiko Kataza Okamoto

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  2. Hirokazu Kataza

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  3. Mitsuhiko Honda

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  4. Takuya Yamashita

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  5. Takashi Onaka

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  6. Jun-ichi Watanabe

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  7. Takashi Miyata

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  8. Shigeyuki Sako

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  9. Takuya Fujiyoshi

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  10. Itsuki Sakon

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Correspondence to Yoshiko Kataza Okamoto.

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Okamoto, Y., Kataza, H., Honda, M. et al. An early extrasolar planetary system revealed by planetesimal belts in β Pictoris. Nature 431, 660–663 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02948

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  • Received: 09 April 2004

  • Accepted: 17 August 2004

  • Issue Date: 07 October 2004

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02948

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