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These schematic images show the geometry of the Beta Pictoris system: the image on the left shows both the star and the two planets embedded in the dusty disk in the orientation as visible from the vantage point of the Solar System. This view was constructed using the information from actual observations. The middle panel contains an artist impression of the disk / planet system. The image on the right shows the dimensions of the system when viewed from above and previous observations of Beta Pictoris b (orange diamonds and red circles) and the new direct observations of Beta Pictoris c (green circles). The exact orbit of planet c is still somewhat uncertain (fuzzy white area). Credit: Axel Quetz / MPIA Graphics Department

The vast majority of planets near foreign stars are discovered by astronomers with the help of sophisticated methods. The exoplanet does not appear in the image, but reveals itself indirectly in the spectrum. A team of scientists from the Max Planck Institutes for Astronomy and Extraterrestrial Physics has now succeeded in obtaining the first direct confirmation of a previously discovered exoplanet using the method of radial velocity measurement. Using the the GRAVITY instrument at the VLT telescopes in Chile, the astronomers observed the faint glint of the planet Beta Pictoris c, some 63 light-years away from Earth, next to the bright rays of its mother star. The researchers can now derive both the brightness and the dynamic mass of an exoplanet from these observations and thus better narrow down the formation models of these objects.

Combining the light of the four large VLT telescopes, astronomers in the GRAVITY collaboration have managed to directly observe the glint of light coming from an exoplanet close to its parent star. The planet called "b Pictoris c" is the second planet found to orbit its parent star. It was originally detected by the so-called "radial velocity," which measures the drag and pull on the parent star due to the planet's orbit. b Pictoris c is so close to its parent star that even the best telescopes were not able to directly image the planet so far.

"This is the first direct confirmation of a planet detected by the radial velocity method," says Sylvestre Lacour, leader of the ExoGRAVITY observing program. Radial velocity measurements have been used for many decades by astronomers, and have allowed for the detection of hundreds of exoplanets. But never before were the astronomers able to obtain a direct observation of one of those planets. This was only possible because the GRAVITY instrument, situated in a laboratory underneath the four telescopes it uses, is a very precise instrument. It observes the light from the parent star with all four VLT telescopes at the same time and combines them into a virtual telescope with the detail required to reveal b Pictoris c.