IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v431y2004i7009d10.1038_nature02948.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

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

Author

Listed:
  • Yoshiko Kataza Okamoto

    (Kitasato University
    Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
    Ibaraki University)

  • Hirokazu Kataza

    (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency)

  • Mitsuhiko Honda

    (University of Tokyo)

  • Takuya Yamashita

    (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan)

  • Takashi Onaka

    (University of Tokyo)

  • Jun-ichi Watanabe

    (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan)

  • Takashi Miyata

    (University of Tokyo)

  • Shigeyuki Sako

    (University of Tokyo)

  • Takuya Fujiyoshi

    (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan)

  • Itsuki Sakon

    (University of Tokyo)

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’.

Suggested Citation

  • Yoshiko Kataza Okamoto & Hirokazu Kataza & Mitsuhiko Honda & Takuya Yamashita & Takashi Onaka & Jun-ichi Watanabe & Takashi Miyata & Shigeyuki Sako & Takuya Fujiyoshi & Itsuki Sakon, 2004. "An early extrasolar planetary system revealed by planetesimal belts in β Pictoris," Nature, Nature, vol. 431(7009), pages 660-663, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:431:y:2004:i:7009:d:10.1038_nature02948
    DOI: 10.1038/nature02948
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature02948
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/nature02948?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:431:y:2004:i:7009:d:10.1038_nature02948. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.