Seeing and Believing: 15 Years of Exoplanet Images


Beta Pictoris is located about 60 light-years away toward the constellation of Pictor (the Painter’s Easel) and is one of the best-known examples of a star surrounded by a dusty debris disk. Earlier observations showed a warp of the disc, a secondary inclined disc and comets falling onto the star, all indirect, but tell-tale signs that strongly suggested the presence of a massive planet. Observations by ESO proved the presence of a planet around Beta Pictoris, and another planet was later discovered. To see the planets, we must block the light of the star.



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