Beta Pictoris (β Pic / β Pictoris) is the second brightest
star in the
constellation Pictor. The β Pic system is very young, only 8-20 million
years old although it is already on the
main sequence. The star β Pictoris shows an excess of infrared emission compared to normal stars of its type. This excess comes from dust near the star. Detailed observations reveal a large disk of dust and gas orbiting the star, called a debris disk.New studies using a
NASA ultraviolet space telescope called
FUSE have discovered that this disk contains a surprising overabundance of
carbon gas. Currently, the two suggested explanations for this are 1) β Pic might be in the process of forming exotic
carbon-rich
worlds, in contrast to the
oxygen-rich
Earth, or 2) it is passing through an unknown phase that might also have occurred early in the development of our
solar system.
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. A star which infrared observations showed to have a dusty disc of material around it. Although originally thought to be an accretion disc, from which planets form, the dimensions of the disc are far too large for that to be the answer. With a diameter of ten times that of Pluto's orbit, current ideas indicate that the disc may be a
Kuiper belt .
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