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Beta Pictoris (MIRI Annotated Image)

Star system Beta Pictoris with labels and graphic overlays.

Annotated version of the Beta Pictoris image captured by Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument). A coronagraph (black circle and two small disks) has been used to block the light of the central star. Certain features are highlighted and labeled. 

A white line traces over the orange main debris disk and is labeled “main disk plane.” A thin blue-green disk is inclined about five degrees counterclockwise relative to the orange main disk and is highlighted by a blue-green line labeled “extended secondary disk.” Some of the gray material clustered near the center forms a curved feature in the upper right, which is marked with a yellow line labeled “cat’s tail.” 

A scale bar shows that the disks of Beta Pic extend for hundreds of astronomical units (AU), where one AU is the average Earth-Sun distance. (In our solar system, Neptune orbits 30 AU from the sun.) In this image, light at 15.5 microns is colored cyan and 23 microns is orange (filters F1550C and F2300C, respectively).

About the Object

  • R.A. Position
    R.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
    05:47:17.08
  • Dec. Position
    Dec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
    -51:03:59.43
  • Constellation
    ConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
    Pictor
  • 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.
    63 light-years (19 parsecs)
  • Dimensions
    DimensionsThe physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky.
    Image is about 3.6 arcseconds across (712 au)

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.

    This image was created with Hubble data from proposal: 1411 (C. Stark). Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI).

  • Instrument
    InstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.
    MIRI
  • Exposure Dates
    Exposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
    13 December 2022
  • Filters
    FiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.
    F1550C, F2300C
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    Beta Pictoris
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    Debris disk
  • Release Date
    January 10, 2024
  • Science Release
    NASA’s Webb Discovers Dusty ‘Cat’s Tail’ in Beta Pictoris System
    Read the release
  • Credit
    Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Christopher Stark (NASA-GSFC), Kellen Lawson (NASA-GSFC), Jens Kammerer (ESO), Marshall Perrin (STScI)

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Star system Beta Pictoris with labels and graphic overlays.
Color Info
Color InfoA brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented.

This image is a composite of separate exposures acquired by the James Webb Space Telescope using the MIRI instrument. Several filters were used to sample specfic 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: F1550C Orange: F2300C

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

Star system Beta Pictoris.

Beta Pictoris (MIRI Image)

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has imaged star system Beta Pictoris. Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) enabled a team of astronomers to investigate the composition of Beta Pic’s main and secondary debris disks—the latter feature previously detected by the Hubble Space...

Annotated image of star system Beta Pictoris with compass arrows, scale bar, and color key. A thin, elongated horizontal orange line appears at the center of the frame, extending almost to the edges. This is a debris disk seen edge-on. A white line traces over the orange debris disk and is labeled “main disk plane.” A thin blue-green disk is inclined about five degrees counterclockwise relative to the orange main disk and is highlighted by a blue-green line labeled “extended secondary disk.” Cloudy, translucent gray material is most prominent near the orange main debris disk. Some of the gray material forms a curved feature in the upper right and is marked with a yellow line labeled “cat’s tail.” The central star, represented as a small white star icon, is blocked by an instrument known as a coronagraph, which forms a large black circle at center and two small disks pointing to the upper left and lower right. The background of space is black. In the lower right corner is a white bar labeled “100 A U."

Beta Pictoris (MIRI Compass Image)

Annotated image of star system Beta Pictoris captured by Webb's MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument), with compass arrows, a scale bar, and color key for reference. The north and east compass arrows show the orientation of the image on the sky. Note that the relationship between north...

A dusty orange disk is seen nearly edge-on. It is brightest in the middle. A second, half-disk colored blue is seen at lower left, inclined downward at a slight angle from the main disk. A curved, blue streamer extends from near the middle of the disk upward to the right.

Beta Pictoris Cat's Tail Animation

This is an animation portraying the creation of the cat’s tail, as hypothesized by a team of astronomers. This structure, which is seen in the southwest portion of Beta Pic’s secondary debris disk, is estimated to span 10 billion miles. Scientists hypothesize that the cat’s tail...

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Details

Last Updated
Aug 28, 2025
Contact
Media

Laura Betz
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
laura.e.betz@nasa.gov

Image Credit

NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Christopher Stark (NASA-GSFC), Kellen Lawson (NASA-GSFC), Jens Kammerer (ESO), Marshall Perrin (STScI)

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