Astronomers Confirm Third Planet in Beta Pictoris System

Astronomers have confirmed the discovery of a third giant planet orbiting the young star Beta Pictoris, located approximately 63 light-years from Earth. The newly identified world, named Beta Pictoris d, was found using two independent methods by separate research teams, solidifying its status as one of the faintest exoplanets ever directly detected from Earth.

The planet was discovered through a combination of archival detective work and new observations. A team led by researchers from the University of Edinburgh and the European Southern Observatory (ESO) first identified the planet using the ERIS instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope in Chile. They then found it had been hiding in over a decade of archival data, faintly visible but previously overlooked. "This was a serendipitous discovery," said Dr. Ben Sutlieff of the University of Edinburgh. "We initially wanted to look more at a known planet in the system, Beta Pictoris b, to see how it changed over time." Dr. Jane Birkby of the University of Oxford noted, "Beta Pictoris d has been eluding us for over ten years, but we can finally confirm its presence!"

Concurrently, a separate team using NASA's James Webb Space...