Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

A wide-orbit giant planet in the high-mass b Centauri binary system

Nature volume 600, pages 231–234 (2021)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Planet formation occurs around a wide range of stellar masses and stellar system architectures1. An improved understanding of the formation process can be achieved by studying it across the full parameter space, particularly towards the extremes. Earlier studies of planets in close-in orbits around high-mass stars have revealed an increase in giant planet frequency with increasing stellar mass2 until a turnover point at 1.9 solar masses (M⊙), above which the frequency rapidly decreases3. This could potentially imply that planet formation is impeded around more massive stars, and that giant planets around stars exceeding 3 M⊙ may be rare or non-existent. However, the methods used to detect planets in small orbits are insensitive to planets in wide orbits. Here we demonstrate the existence of a planet at 560 times the Sun–Earth distance from the 6- to 10-M⊙ binary b Centauri through direct imaging. The planet-to-star mass ratio of 0.10–0.17% is similar to the Jupiter–Sun ratio, but the separation of the detected planet is about 100 times wider than that of Jupiter. Our results show that planets can reside in much more massive stellar systems than what would be expected from extrapolation of previous results. The planet is unlikely to have formed in situ through the conventional core accretion mechanism4, but might have formed elsewhere and arrived to its present location through dynamical interactions, or might have formed via gravitational instability.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Image of b Cen (AB)b.
Fig. 2: The planet-to-star mass ratio of b Cen (AB)b in an exoplanetary context.

Data availability

All the raw data used in this study are available at the European Southern Observatories archive (http://archive.eso.org/cms.html) under programme ID 1101.C-0258, by default after a proprietary time of 1 yr after each respective dataset was acquired, but earlier access can be provided upon reasonable request to the corresponding author. Processed data are available from the Data Center by following the instructions at https://sphere.osug.fr/spip.php?article74&lang=en.

Code availability

Data were processed using recipes at the SPHERE Data Center. Access to the Data Center is available by following the instructions at https://sphere.osug.fr/spip.php?article47&lang=en.

References

  1. Winn, J. N. & Fabrycky, D. C. The occurrence and architecture of exoplanetary systems. Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 53, 409–447 (2015).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. Johnson, J. A., Aller, K. M., Howard, A. W. & Crepp, J. R. Giant planet occurrence in the stellar mass-metallicity plane. Publ. Astron. Soc. Pac. 122, 905 (2010).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. Reffert, S., Bergmann, C., Quirrenbach, A., Trifonov, T. & Künstler, A. Precise radial velocities of giant stars. VII. Occurrence rate of giant extrasolar planets as a function of mass and metallicity. Astron. Astrophys. 574, A116 (2015).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. Mordasini, C., Alibert, Y., Benz, W., Klahr, H. & Henning, T. Extrasolar planet population synthesis. IV. Correlations with disk metallicity, mass, and lifetime. Astron. Astrophys. 541, A97 (2012).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Janson, M. et al. BEAST begins: sample characteristics and survey performance of the B-star Exoplanet Abundance Study. Astron. Astrophys. 646, A164 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Shatsky, N. & Tokovinin, A. The mass ratio distribution of B-type visual binaries in the Sco OB2 association. Astron. Astrophys. 382, 92–103 (2002).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Houk, N. Michigan Catalogue of Two-dimensional Spectral Types for the HD stars. Volume 3 (p. 8). Declinations -40 to -26 (Dept. of Astronomy, Univ. of Michigan, 1982).

  8. Gutierrez-Moreno, A. & Moreno, H. A photometric investigation of the Scorpio-Centaurus association. Astrophys. J. Suppl. 15, 459 (1968).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. Bressan, A. et al. PARSEC: stellar tracks and isochrones with the PAdova and TRieste Stellar Evolution Code. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 427, 127–145 (2012).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Gaia Collaboration. Gaia Early Data Release 3. Summary of the contents and survey properties. Astron. Astrophys. 649, A1 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Nguyen, M. M., De Rosa, R. J. & Kalas, P. First detection of orbital motion for HD 106906 b: a wide-separation exoplanet on a Planet Nine-like orbit. Astron. J. 161, 22 (2021).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  12. Marleau, G.-D. & Cumming, A. Constraining the initial entropy of directly detected exoplanets. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 437, 1378–1399 (2014).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Marleau, G.-D., Coleman, G. A. L., Leleu, A. & Mordasini, C. Exploring the formation by core accretion and the luminosity evolution of directly imaged planets. The case of HIP 65426 b. Astron. Astrophys. 624, A20 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Reggiani, M. & Meyer, M. R. Universality of the companion mass-ratio distribution. Astron. Astrophys. 553, A124 (2013).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  15. Blunt, S. et al. Orbits for the impatient: a Bayesian rejection-sampling method for quickly fitting the orbits of long-period exoplanets. Astron. J. 153, 229 (2017).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  16. Nielsen, E. L. et al. The Gemini Planet Imager Exoplanet Survey: giant planet and brown dwarf demographics from 10 to 100 au. Astron. J. 158, 13 (2019).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Vigan, A. et al. The SPHERE infrared survey for exoplanets (SHINE). III. The demographics of young giant exoplanets below 300 au with SPHERE. Astron. Astrophys. 651, 72 (2021).

  18. Yao, Y., Meyer, M. R., Covey, K. R., Tan, J. C. & Da Rio, N. IN-SYNC. VIII. Primordial disk frequencies in NGC 1333, IC 348, and the Orion A molecular cloud. Astrophys. J. 869, 72 (2018).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Adams, F. C., Meyer, M. R. & Adams, A. D. A theoretical framework for the mass distribution of gas giant planets forming through the core accretion paradigm. Astrophys. J. 909, 1 (2021).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  20. Kennedy, G. M. & Kenyon, S. J. Planet formation around stars of various masses: the snow line and the frequency of giant planets. Astrophys. J. 673, 502–512 (2008).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  21. Beltrán, M. T. & de Wit, W. J. Accretion disks in luminous young stellar objects. Astron. Astrophys. Rev. 24, 6 (2016).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  22. Pollack, J. B. et al. Formation of the giant planets by concurrent accretion of solids and gas. Icarus 124, 62–85 (1996).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  23. Lambrechts, M. & Johansen, A. Rapid growth of gas-giant cores by pebble accretion. Astron. Astrophys. 544, A32 (2012).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  24. Holman, M. J. & Wiegert, P. A. Long-term stability of planets in binary systems. Astron. J. 117, 621–628 (1999).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  25. Mudryk, L. R. & Wu, Y. Resonance overlap is responsible for ejecting planets in binary systems. Astrophys. J. 639, 423–431 (2006).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  26. Asensio-Torres, R. et al. SPOTS: The Search for Planets Orbiting Two Stars. III. Complete sample and statistical analysis. Astron. Astrophys. 619, A43 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Boss, A. P. Giant planet formation by gravitational instability. Science 276, 1836–1839 (1997).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Szulágyi, J., Mayer, L. & Quinn, T. Circumplanetary discs around young giant planets: a comparison between core-accretion and disc instability. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 464, 3158–3168 (2017).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  29. Baruteau, C., Bai, X., Mordasini, C. & Mollière, P. Formation, orbital and internal evolutions of young planetary systems. Space Sci. Rev. 205, 77–124 (2016).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  30. Kratter, K. M. & Matzner, C. D. Fragmentation of massive protostellar discs. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 373, 1563–1576 (2006).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  31. Parker, R. J. & Quanz, S. P. The effects of dynamical interactions on planets in young substructured star clusters. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 419, 2448–2458 (2012).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  32. Perets, H. B. & Kouwenhoven, M. B. N. On the origin of planets at very wide orbits from the recapture of free floating planets. Astrophys. J. 750, 83 (2012).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  33. Ambartsumian, V. A. On the statistics of double stars. Astron. Zh. 14, 207–219 (1937).

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  34. Marois, C., Zuckerman, B., Konopacky, Q. M., Macintosh, B. & Barman, T. Images of a fourth planet orbiting HR 8799. Nature 468, 1080–1083 (2010).

    Article  ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Bailey, V. et al. HD 106906 b: a planetary-mass companion outside a massive debris disk. Astrophys. J. Lett. 780, L4 (2014).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  36. Beuzit, J.-L. et al. SPHERE: the exoplanet imager for the Very Large Telescope. Astron. Astrophys. 631, A155 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  37. Zurlo, A. et al. Performance of the VLT Planet Finder SPHERE. I. Photometry and astrometry precision with IRDIS and IFS in laboratory. Astron. Astrophys. 572, A85 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Vigan, A. et al. Photometric characterization of exoplanets using angular and spectral differential imaging. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 407, 71–82 (2010).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  39. Delorme, P. et al. The SPHERE Data Center: a reference for high contrast imaging processing. In SF2A-2017: Proc Annual Meeting of the French Society of Astronomy and Astrophysics 347–361 (2017).

  40. Galicher, R. et al. Astrometric and photometric accuracies in high contrast imaging: the SPHERE speckle calibration tool (SpeCal). Astron. Astrophys. 615, A92 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Marois, C., Lafrenière, D., Doyon, R., Macintosh, B. & Nadeau, D. Angular differential imaging: a powerful high-contrast imaging technique. Astrophys. J. 641, 556–564 (2006).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  42. Lafrenière, D., Marois, C., Doyon, R., Nadeau, D. & Artigau, É. A new algorithm for point-spread function subtraction in high-contrast imaging: a demonstration with angular differential imaging. Astrophys. J. 660, 770–780 (2007).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  43. Maire, A.-L. et al. SPHERE IRDIS and IFS astrometric strategy and calibration. In Proc. Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy VI Vol. 9908, 990834 (2016).

  44. van Leeuwen, F. Validation of the new Hipparcos reduction. Astron. Astrophys. 474, 653–664 (2007).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  45. de Zeeuw, P. T., Hoogerwerf, R., de Bruijne, J. H. J., Brown, A. G. A. & Blaauw, A. A HIPPARCOS census of the nearby OB associations. Astron. J. 117, 354–399 (1999).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  46. Gagné, J. et al. BANYAN. XI. The BANYAN Σ multivariate Bayesian algorithm to identify members of young associations with 150 pc. Astrophys. J. 856, 23 (2018).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  47. Pecaut, M. J. & Mamajek, E. E. The star formation history and accretion-disc fraction among the K-type members of the Scorpius-Centaurus OB association. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 461, 794–815 (2016).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  48. Fitzpatrick, E. L. & Massa, D. Determining the physical properties of the B Stars. II. Calibration of synthetic photometry. Astron. J. 129, 1642–1662 (2005).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  49. Niemczura, E. Metallicities of the SPB stars from the IUE ultraviolet spectra. Astron. Astrophys. 404, 689–700 (2003).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  50. Kervella, P., Arenou, F., Mignard, F. & Thévenin, F. Stellar and substellar companions of nearby stars from Gaia DR2. Binarity from proper motion anomaly. Astron. Astrophys. 623, A72 (2019).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  51. Leike, R. H., Glatzle, M. & Enßlin, T. A. Resolving nearby dust clouds. Astron. Astrophys. 639, A138 (2020).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  52. Rizzuto, A. C. et al. Long-baseline interferometric multiplicity survey of the Sco-Cen OB association. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 436, 1694–1707 (2013).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  53. Wolff, S. C., Strom, S. E., Dror, D. & Venn, K. Rotational velocities for B0-B3 stars in seven young clusters: further study of the relationship between rotation speed and density in star-forming regions. Astron. J. 133, 1092–1103 (2007).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  54. Janson, M. et al. The B-Star Exoplanet Abundance Study: a co-moving 16-25 MJup companion to the young binary system HIP 79098. Astron. Astrophys. 626, A99 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  55. Blunt, S. et al. orbitize!: a comprehensive orbit-fitting software package for the high-contrast imaging community. Astron. J. 159, 89 (2020).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  56. Rodet, L. et al. Dynamical masses of M-dwarf binaries in young moving groups. I. The case of TWA 22 and GJ 2060. Astron. Astrophys. 618, A23 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  57. Skrutskie, M. F. et al. The Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS). Astron. J. 131, 1163–1183 (2006).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  58. Baraffe, I., Chabrier, G., Barman, T. S., Allard, F. & Hauschildt, P. H. Evolutionary models for cool brown dwarfs and extrasolar giant planets. The case of HD 209458. Astron. Astrophys. 402, 701–712 (2003).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  59. Chabrier, G., Baraffe, I., Allard, F. & Hauschildt, P. Evolutionary models for very low-mass stars and brown dwarfs with dusty atmospheres. Astrophys. J. 542, 464–472 (2000).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  60. Müller, S. & Helled, R. Synthetic evolution tracks of giant planets. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 507, 2094–2102 (2021).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  61. Öberg, K. I., Murray-Clay, R. & Bergin, E. A. The effects of snowlines on C/O in planetary atmospheres. Astrophys. J. Lett. 743, L16 (2011).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  62. Bowler, B. P. Imaging extrasolar giant planets. Publ. Astron. Soc. Pac. 128, 102001 (2016).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  63. Chauvin, G. et al. Discovery of a warm, dusty giant planet around HIP 65426. Astron. Astrophys. 605, L9 (2017).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  64. Keppler, M. et al. Discovery of a planetary-mass companion within the gap of the transition disk around PDS 70. Astron. Astrophys. 617, A44 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  65. Bohn, A. J. et al. Two directly imaged, wide-orbit giant planets around the young, solar analog TYC 8998-760-1. Astrophys. J. Lett. 898, L16 (2020).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  66. Wagner, K., Apai, D. & Kratter, K. M. On the mass function, multiplicity, and origins of wide-orbit giant planets. Astrophys. J. 877, 46 (2019).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  67. Schlaufman, K. C. Evidence of an upper bound on the masses of planets and its implications for giant planet formation. Astrophys. J. 853, 37 (2018).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  68. Delorme, P. et al. Direct-imaging discovery of a 12-14 Jupiter-mass object orbiting a young binary system of very low-mass stars. Astron. Astrophys. 553, L5 (2013).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  69. Macintosh, B. et al. Discovery and spectroscopy of the young jovian planet 51 Eri b with the Gemini Planet Imager. Science 350, 64–67 (2015).

    Article  ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  70. Moe, M. & Di Stefano,R. Mind your Ps and Qs: the interrelation between period (P) and mass-ratio (Q) distributions of binary stars. Astrophys. J. Suppl. 230, 15 (2017).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  71. De Rosa, R. J. et al. The VAST Survey - III. The multiplicity of A-type stars within 75 pc. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 437, 1216–1240 (2014).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  72. Bowler, B. P. et al. Retired A stars and their companions. III. Comparing the mass-period distributions of planets around A-type stars and Sun-like stars. Astrophys. J. 709, 396–410 (2010).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  73. Jones, M. I. et al. Four new planets around giant stars and the mass-metallicity correlation of planet-hosting stars. Astron. Astrophys. 590, A38 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  74. Vigan, A. et al. The International Deep Planet Survey. I. The frequency of wide-orbit massive planets around A-stars. Astron. Astrophys. 544, A9 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  75. Rameau, J. et al. A survey of young, nearby, and dusty stars conducted to understand the formation of wide-orbit giant planets. VLT/NaCo adaptive optics thermal and angular differential imaging. Astron. Astrophys. 553, A60 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  76. Rafikov, R. R. Can giant planets form by direct gravitational instability? Astrophys. J. Lett. 621, L69–L72 (2005).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  77. Kratter, K. M., Murray-Clay, R. A. & Youdin, A. N. The runts of the litter: why planets formed through gravitational instability can only be failed binary stars. Astrophys. J. 710, 1375–1386 (2010).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  78. Forgan, D. & Rice, K. Towards a population synthesis model of objects formed by self-gravitating disc fragmentation and tidal downsizing. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 432, 3168–3185 (2013).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  79. Boley, A. C., Hayfield, T., Mayer, L. & Durisen, R. H. Clumps in the outer disk by disk instability: why they are initially gas giants and the legacy of disruption. Icarus 207, 509–516 (2010).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  80. Nayakshin, S. Formation of planets by tidal downsizing of giant planet embryos. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. Lett. 408, L36–L40 (2010).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  81. Mordasini, C., Marleau, G.-D. & Mollière, P. Characterization of exoplanets from their formation. III. The statistics of planetary luminosities. Astron. Astrophys. 608, A72 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank M. Ireland for input regarding SUSI interferometry. The results presented here are based on observations collected at the European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere under ESO programme 1101.C-0258. The work has made use of the SPHERE Data Centre, jointly operated by OSUG/IPAG (Grenoble), PYTHEAS/LAM/CeSAM (Marseille), OCA/Lagrange (Nice), Observatoire de Paris/LESIA (Paris) and Observatoire de Lyon/CRAL, and supported by a grant from Labex OSUG@2020 (Investissements d’avenir – ANR10 LABX56). The study made use of CDS and NASA-ADS services. M.J. acknowledges support from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (KAW). G.-D.M. acknowledges the support of the DFG priority programme SPP 1992 “Exploring the Diversity of Extrasolar Planets” (MA 9185/1-1) and from the Swiss National Science Foundation under grant BSSGI0_155816 “PlanetsInTime”. Parts of this work have been carried out within the framework of the NCCR PlanetS supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation. A.V. acknowledges funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 757561). Part of this research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (80NM0018D0004).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Astronomy, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

    Markus Janson, Simon Ringqvist, Gayathri Viswanath & Matthias Samland

  2. INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Padova, Italy

    Raffaele Gratton, Silvano Desidera, Vito Squicciarini & Dino Mesa

  3. Cornell Center for Astrophysics and Planetary Science, Department of Astronomy, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

    Laetitia Rodet

  4. Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, CNES, LAM (Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille), UMR 7326, Marseille, France

    Arthur Vigan

  5. Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IPAG, Grenoble, France

    Mickaël Bonnefoy, Philippe Delorme, Gaël Chauvin & Simon Petrus

  6. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA

    Eric E. Mamajek

  7. Landessternwarte, Zentrum für Astronomie der Universität Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany

    Sabine Reffert & Lukas Stock

  8. Institut für Astronomie und Astrophysik, Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

    Gabriel-Dominique Marleau

  9. Physikalisches Institut, Universität Bern, Bern, Switzerland

    Gabriel-Dominique Marleau

  10. Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Heidelberg, Germany

    Gabriel-Dominique Marleau & Thomas Henning

  11. CRAL, UMR 5574, CNRS, Université Lyon 1, Saint Genis Laval, France

    Maud Langlois

  12. Unidad Mixta Internacional Franco-Chilena de Astronomía, CNRS/INSU UMI 3386 and Departamento de Astronomía, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile

    Gaël Chauvin

  13. Center for Theoretical Physics and Cosmology, Institute for Computational Science, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Lucio Mayer & Ravit Helled

  14. Department of Physics and Astronomy “Galileo Galilei”, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

    Vito Squicciarini

  15. Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Michael R. Meyer

  16. Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Matthew A. Kenworthy

  17. ETH Zurich, Institute for Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Zurich, Switzerland

    Sascha P. Quanz & Natalia Engler

  18. SUPA, Institute for Astronomy, Royal Observatory, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

    Beth Biller

  19. College of Charleston, Department of Physics & Astronomy, Charleston, SC, USA

    Joseph C. Carson

Authors
  1. Markus Janson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Raffaele Gratton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Laetitia Rodet
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Arthur Vigan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Mickaël Bonnefoy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Philippe Delorme
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Eric E. Mamajek
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Sabine Reffert
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Lukas Stock
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Gabriel-Dominique Marleau
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. Maud Langlois
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  12. Gaël Chauvin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  13. Silvano Desidera
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  14. Simon Ringqvist
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  15. Lucio Mayer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  16. Gayathri Viswanath
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  17. Vito Squicciarini
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  18. Michael R. Meyer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  19. Matthias Samland
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  20. Simon Petrus
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  21. Ravit Helled
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  22. Matthew A. Kenworthy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  23. Sascha P. Quanz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  24. Beth Biller
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  25. Thomas Henning
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  26. Dino Mesa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  27. Natalia Engler
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  28. Joseph C. Carson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

M.J. is the principal investigator for the BEAST survey and led the management, observation preparations, analysis and manuscript writing. R.G., A.V., M.B., G.-D.M., S. S. Ringqvist, G.V., V.S. and S.P contributed to the data analysis and plots. L.R. led the orbital fitting. P.D. led the data reduction. R.G., E.E.M., S. Reffert, L.S., G.-D.M. and S.D. contributed to the stellar and planetary characterization. M.L. contributed to the observation preparations. G.C. assisted with the project management. L.M., M.R.M. and R.H. contributed to the formation discussion. All co-authors assisted with the manuscript writing.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Markus Janson.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Peer review information Nature thanks Katherine Follete and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Peer reviewer reports are available.

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Extended data figures and tables

Extended Data Fig. 1 J2-band image of b Cen (AB)b.

The image reduction is performed with classical angular differential imaging. The planet is denoted ‘b’ and the brighter of the background stars is denoted ‘bg’. The fainter background star cannot be easily seen at the contrast/saturation of this display, which is chosen to optimize visibility of other image elements.

Extended Data Fig. 2 Astrometric motion of b Cen (AB)b and the background stars.

The image shows the astrometric motion of the three point sources detected around b Cen, in the reference frame of b Cen itself. Squares show the locations of background star 1 at epochs 2019 (purple) and 2021 (blue). Circles show the locations of background star 2 at the same epochs. Diamonds show the locations of b Cen (AB)b, both at the 2019 and 2021 epochs, but also in the 2000 epoch (green) where it could additionally be retrieved. Gray tracks show a representative collection of orbits that fit the observed motion of b Cen (AB)b. The insets zoom in on the locations around background star 1 (upper left inset), background star 2 (upper right inset), and the confirmed planet b Cen (AB)b (lower left inset). The filled symbols are the measured locations, while the open symbols show the projected motion expected for a static background object (which would follow the dashed trajectories over time), where 2021 is chosen as the reference epoch.

Extended Data Fig. 3 Orbital parameters of b Cen (AB)b.

Prior (in orange) and posterior (in blue) distributions for the full set of orbital parameters: Orbital period P, eccentricity e, inclination i, ascending node Ω, argument of periapsis ω, and time of periapsis Tp.

Extended Data Fig. 4 Colour-magnitude diagrams for b Cen (AB)b.

a, J2-J3 colour versus absolute J2 magnitude. b, K1-K2 colour versus absolute K1 magnitude. The planet b Cen (AB)b is plotted as a blue-green star, and follows the same colour trends as are generally observed for young planetary and substellar companions to stars, plotted as purple and black symbols with error bars. Symbols without error bars are young and field brown dwarfs.

Extended Data Fig. 5 Constraints on mass and initial entropy for b Cen (AB)b.

Posterior probability distribution for the mass and initial entropy of b Cen (AB)b based on its brightness and age. The BEX-Cond models are used in this MCMC exploration, but the results are not very sensitive to the choice of the atmospheric model since the bolometric luminosity (and not a magnitude) is used. The red dotted (blue dashed) lines show for reference the approximate minimum and maximum of the hot-start (cold-start) planets in the Bern population synthesis81. A subset of the models is shown for plotting purposes.

Extended Data Table 1 Astrometric values for point sources around b Cen
Full size table
Extended Data Table 2 Photometric values for point sources around b Cen
Full size table

Supplementary information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Janson, M., Gratton, R., Rodet, L. et al. A wide-orbit giant planet in the high-mass b Centauri binary system. Nature 600, 231–234 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-04124-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-04124-8

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing