Annotated version of the Beta Pictoris image captured by Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument). A coronagraph (black circle and two small disks) has been used to block the light of the central star. Certain features are highlighted and labeled.
A white line traces over the orange main debris disk and is labeled “main disk plane.” A thin blue-green disk is inclined about five degrees counterclockwise relative to the orange main disk and is highlighted by a blue-green line labeled “extended secondary disk.” Some of the gray material clustered near the center forms a curved feature in the upper right, which is marked with a yellow line labeled “cat’s tail.”
A scale bar shows that the disks of Beta Pic extend for hundreds of astronomical units (AU), where one AU is the average Earth-Sun distance. (In our solar system, Neptune orbits 30 AU from the sun.) In this image, light at 15.5 microns is colored cyan and 23 microns is orange (filters F1550C and F2300C, respectively).
Credits
Image
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Christopher Stark (NASA-GSFC), Kellen Lawson (NASA-GSFC), Jens Kammerer (ESO), Marshall Perrin (STScI)
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | Beta Pictoris |
| Object Description | Debris disk |
| R.A. Position | 05:47:17.08 |
| Dec. Position | -51:03:59.43 |
| Constellation | Pictor |
| Distance | 63 light-years (19 parsecs) |
| Dimensions | Image is about 3.6 arcseconds across (712 au) |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | This image was created with Hubble data from proposal: (C. Stark). Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI). |
| Instrument | MIRI |
| Exposure Dates | 13 December 2022 |
| Filters | F1550C, F2300C |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | This image is a composite of separate exposures acquired by the James Webb Space Telescope using the MIRI instrument. Several filters were used to sample specfic wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are: Cyan: F1550C Orange: F2300C |
| Compass Image |  |
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object. |
| Object Description | The type of astronomical object. |
| R.A. Position | Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Dec. Position | Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Constellation | One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears. |
| Distance | The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs. |
| Dimensions | The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description |
|
| Instrument | The science instrument used to produce the data. |
| Exposure Dates | The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time. |
| Filters | The camera filters that were used in the science observations. |
| About The Image | |
| Image Credit | The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content. |
| Publication Date | The date and time the release content became public. |
| Color Info | A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented. |
| Orientation | The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere. |
