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PDS 70 Hubble Image

PDS 70 Hubble Image Thumbnail

Hubble observations pinpoint planet PDS 70b. The glare of the central star was blocked out for the planet to be directly observed. Though over 4,000 exoplanets have been cataloged so far, only about 15 have been directly imaged to date by telescopes. The team’s fresh technique for using Hubble to directly image this planet paves a new route for further exoplanet research, especially during a planet’s formative years.

About the Object

  • R.A. Position
    R.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
    14:08:10.15
  • Dec. Position
    Dec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
    -41:23:52.58
  • Constellation
    ConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
    Centaurus
  • Distance
    DistanceThe 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.
    370 light-years

About the Data

  • Data Description
    Data DescriptionProposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
    Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.

    The Hubble image was created from HST data from proposal: 15830 (Y. Zhou)

  • Instrument
    InstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.
    WFC3/UVIS
  • Exposure Dates
    Exposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
    07 Feb - 03 Jul 2020
  • Filters
    FiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.
    F336W, F656N
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    PDS 70b
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    Extrasolar Planet
  • Release Date
    April 29, 2021
  • Science Release
    Hubble Watches How a Giant Planet Grows
    Read the release
  • Credit
    Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

Downloads

  • Full Res, 1280 × 1280
    tif (994.83 KB)
  • Full Res, 1280 × 1280
    png (1.14 MB)
  • Unannotated Full Res, 1280 × 1280
    tif (966.52 KB)
  • Unannotated Full Res, 1280 × 1280
    png (1.13 MB)
PDS 70 Hubble Image Thumbnail
Color Info
Color InfoA brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented.

These images are a composite of separate exposures acquired by the WFC3 instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope. Several filters were used to sample narrow 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: F336W Orange: F656N

Compass and Scale
Compass and ScaleAn astronomical image with a scale that shows how large an object is on the sky, a compass that shows how the object is oriented on the sky, and the filters with which the image was made.

Related Images & Videos

PDS 70b illustration thumb

PDS 70b Illustration

This illustration of the newly forming exoplanet PDS 70b shows how material may be falling onto the giant world as it builds up mass. By employing Hubble’s ultraviolet light (UV) sensitivity, researchers got a unique look at radiation from extremely hot gas falling onto the...

Protoplanetary Disk Thumbnail

Protoplanetary Disk Around PDS 70

The European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope caught the first clear image of a forming planet, PDS 70b, around a dwarf star in 2018. The planet stands out as a bright point to the right of the center of the image, which is blacked out by the coronagraph mask used to...

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PDS 70 Compass Image

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Details

Last Updated
Mar 28, 2025
Contact
Media

Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov

Science Credit

NASA, ESA, McDonald Observatory?University of Texas, Yifan Zhou (UT Austin)

Image Processing Credit

Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

Related Terms

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