{"id":5533,"date":"2021-12-18T00:04:05","date_gmt":"2021-12-18T00:04:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/?p=5533"},"modified":"2025-10-01T23:06:42","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T23:06:42","slug":"big-planet-wide-orbit-unsolved-mystery-b-centauriabb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/big-planet-wide-orbit-unsolved-mystery-b-centauriabb\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Planet, Wide Orbit, Unsolved Mystery: b Centauri(AB)b"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"J.L.<\/a>Scientists in Sweden, taking part in 2019’s BEAST program that used SPHERE on the VLT discovered an ‘it might be an exoplanet.’<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2021, they got confirmation. They’d spotted an exoplanet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And SPHERE on the VLT1<\/a><\/sup> has an picture of the newly-discovered world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’d planned on talking about BEAST, SPHERE, VLT; comparing ground-based and space observatories; and whatever else came to mind. Then, on Tuesday, I started running a fever. It was of the ‘nothing serious’ variety, but quite enough to slow me down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After that, the household got a brief visit from number-two daughter, son-in law and granddaughter: a happy occasion. Which also didn’t help me do what I’d planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I trimmed my plans back to what was possible, and this is the result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>b Centauri(AB)b, AKA HD 129116 b: Big Bright Stars and a Big Mystery Planet<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

\"ESO\/Janson<\/a>
(From ESO, used w\/o permission.)<\/span>
(Binary star HD 129116 and HD 129116 b, its huge exoplanet.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

“Giant Planet Imaged Around Massive Stars<\/a>“
Monica Young, Sky and Telescope (December 8, 2021)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Astronomers have imaged a giant planet around a massive pair of stars known as b Centauri. While Jupiter’s orbit around the Sun is five times wider than Earth’s, this planet is 100 times farther out, circling its star at 560 times the average Earth-Sun distance….<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“…Markus Janson (Stockholm University, Sweden) and colleagues discovered the planet in observations taken in 2019 as part of the B-star Exoplanet Abundance Study (BEAST), using the SPHERE instrument on the European Southern Observatory\u2019s Very Large Telescope in Chile. Follow up in 2021 confirmed the planet\u2019s existence. The real kicker, though, was an observation taken two decades earlier as part of a different project. The planet was visible back then but discarded for being too faint. Including the earlier observation enabled the researchers to trace the object\u2019s orbit and confirm that not only is it moving with the b Centauri system, it\u2019s actually orbiting the central stars….”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Monica Young’s Sky and Telescope article doesn’t mention the planet’s designation. She calls the planet’s star b Centauri. That’s the designation European Southern Observatory’s announcement used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I called b Centauri’s planet HD 129116 b partly because Wikipedia’s page on the star uses the “HD” or Henry Draper Catalogue designation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And partly because the “b Centauri” designation invites confusion in my language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

b Centauri is a legitimate Bayer Designation. But it also ‘reads’ as Beta Centauri. Maybe Beta Centauri has planets, but if so we haven’t spotted them yet.2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Awkward Designations, Pondering “Fred”<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

\"Jim<\/a>The Sky and Telescope article calls b Centauri’s planet b Centauri(AB)b: an accurate of not euphonious designation. I’ve called it HD 129116 b, but I haven’t seen that designation used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But whether I call it HD 129116 b or b Centauri(AB)b, the designation’s awkward. For me, at any rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I need to refer to it often, then I may start calling it “Fred.” Or maybe not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I talked about names, stars, catalog designations and alphanumeric gibberish last month.3<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>HD 129116 b, Beta Pictoris b and More: We See You!<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

\"Sky<\/a>
(From IAU, Sky & Telescope magazine\/Roger Sinnott & Rick Fienberg; used w\/o permission.)<\/span>
(Location of b Centauri (AB)b\/HD 129116 circled.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HD 129116 b isn’t the first exoplanet that astronomers have seen directly. That’d be Beta Pictoris b, imaged in 2008. Or ROXs 42Bb in 2013. Or maybe some other planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We’ve been finding a great many exoplanets, and who’s found what and when \u2014 to say nothing about what’s being learned and how \u2014 hasn’t been tidied up into well-organized lists yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, today’s information technology helps scientists share, analyze and organize information \u2014 and lets someone like me stay more-or-less up to date with what humanity’s learning about this wonder-packed universe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which reminds me \u2014 b Centauri(AB)b is being presented as “a planet that shouldn’t exist:”<\/p>\n\n\n\n