Using the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have been able to capture never-seen-before images of the solar system of the young, 20 million years old star Beta Pictoris. The images show a large planet embedded in the debris disk of the young star. Discovered in 2009 by the same telescope, the young star is perhaps the only one that has a huge planet as well as debris disk.
Thanks to its short orbital period, astronomers all over the world can observe the large amount of motion of the planet in a matter of a few years since the orbital period is between 18 to 22 years, which is why scientists find it easier to study the young star and how its disk has deformed as a result of a huge planet embedded within the disk.
According to leading scientists and astronomers as well, the debris noticed in its solar system is perhaps because of a large amount of recent collisions occurring between planets and asteroids, which have yet to be detected by the same telescope.
The young star which is the nearest among other disk systems, is only 63 light years away from us and was the first star to be found that was encompassed by a debris disk. While two dozen such similar stars were also found, Beta Pictoris can be easily observed because of its disk, which is visible from earth because of being extraordinarily bright. Thanks to the huge quantities of dust disk, scattering of sunlight by these particles have made it easier for the astronomers to study them.
The southwestern part of the disk comprises a bright body of dust, which astronomers believe it to be a result of an immense collision, which destroyed an object whose size is comparable to that of Mars.
According to Daniel Apai of the University of Arizona, computer simulations had earlier predicted the complicated structure for the inner disk due to the gravitational pull by the giant planet and the recent images now confirm that.