{"data":{"id":2016,"lang":"en","title":"Astronomers Discover Faintest Exoplanet Ever Imaged, Hiding in Beta Pictoris System for a Decade","summary":"Astronomers confirmed Beta Pictoris d, the faintest exoplanet ever directly imaged, after spotting it hidden in a decade of archival telescope data.","category":"science","category_label":"Science","published_at":"2026-07-16T10:01:22Z","updated_at":"2026-07-16T10:01:22Z","url":"https://techtools.cz/tools/news/article/2016-astronomers-discover-faintest-exoplanet-ever-imaged-hiding-in-beta-pictoris","api_url":"https://techtools.cz/news-api/v1/articles/2016?lang=en","markdown_url":"https://techtools.cz/news-api/v1/articles/2016.md?lang=en","image_url":"https://cdn.eso.org/images/newsfeature/eso2609a.jpg","word_count":211,"reading_time_minutes":2,"sources":[{"url":"https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2609/","domain":"eso.org"},{"url":"https://www.sci.news/astronomy/third-planet-beta-pictoris-system-14920.html","domain":"sci.news"}],"translation":{"lang":"cs","id":2089,"title":"Astronomové objevili nejslabší přímo vyfocenou exoplanetu, deset let se skrývala v soustavě Beta Pictoris","url":"https://techtools.cz/tools/news/clanek/2089-astronomove-objevili-nejslabsi-primo-vyfocenou-exoplanetu-deset-let-se-skryvala","api_url":"https://techtools.cz/news-api/v1/articles/2089?lang=cs"},"content":"An international team led by Ben Sutlieff and Markus Bonse has confirmed a third planet orbiting the young star Beta Pictoris, 63 light-years from Earth. The gas giant, named Beta Pictoris d, is about 2.4 times the mass of Jupiter and roughly 100 times fainter than its already-known neighbor Beta Pictoris b, making it the faintest exoplanet ever directly imaged from the ground.\n\nThe discovery was serendipitous: while re-examining ERIS instrument data from ESO's Very Large Telescope meant to track the known planet Beta Pictoris b, Bonse noticed an extra point of light and asked Sutlieff, \"There's something else there, did you see it?\" A search through 11 years of archival images from VLT's SPHERE instrument and NASA's James Webb Space Telescope confirmed the object had been visible, unrecognized, since at least 2015. An independent team led by Aidan Gibbs at the University of California made the same identification using JWST data.\n\nBeta Pictoris now joins a very short list of stars known to host at least three directly imaged planets. Astronomer Beth Biller noted that such systems suggest \"planets seem to have friends,\" while Jayne Birkby said the newly confirmed world \"has been playing hide-and-seek with us for over a decade.\" The findings are published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters."}}