Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Mass Of Β Pictoris C From Β Pictoris B Orbital Motion, S. Lacour, J. J. Wang, L. Rodet, M. Nowak, J. Shangguan, H. Beust, A. M. Lagrange, R. Abuter, A. Amorim, R. Asensio-Torres, M. Benisty, J. P. Berger, S. Blunt, A. Boccaletti, A. Bohn, M. L. Bolzer, M. Bonnefoy, H. Bonnet, G. Bourdarot, W. Brandner, F. Cantalloube, P. Caselli, B. Charnay, G. Chauvin, E. Choquet, V. Christiaens, Y. Clénet, V. Coudé Du Foresto, A. Cridland, R. Dembet, J. Dexter, P. T. De Zeeuw, K. Ward-Duong, Et Al

Astronomy: Faculty Publications

Aims. We aim to demonstrate that the presence and mass of an exoplanet can now be effectively derived from the astrometry of another exoplanet. Methods. We combined previous astrometry of β Pictoris b with a new set of observations from the GRAVITY interferometer. The orbital motion of β Pictoris b is fit using Markov chain Monte Carlo simulations in Jacobi coordinates. The inner planet, β Pictoris c, was also reobserved at a separation of 96 mas, confirming the previous orbital estimations. Results. From the astrometry of planet b only, we can (i) detect the presence of β Pictoris c and …