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Photometric Variability and Rotation of β Pictoris b from JWST NIRCam Coronagraphic Imaging

  • Authors: Yifan Zhou, Beth A. Biller, Aarynn L. Carter, Marshall D. Perrin, Michael Poon, Genaro Suárez, Ben J. Sutlieff, Johanna M. Vos, Jason J. Wang, William O. Balmer, Marta L. Bryan, Anthony Boccaletti, Julien H. Girard, Eileen C. Gonzales, Jens Kammerer, Jarron M. Leisenring, Paulina. Palma-Bifani, Kevin R. Wagner, Dániel Apai, Mickäel Bonnefoy, Brendan P. Bowler, Kyle Franson, Pengyu Liu, Marcio Meléndez, Stanimir A. Metchev, Simon Petrus, Laurent Pueyo, Isabel Rebollido, Andrew J. Skemer, Xianyu Tan, Niall Whiteford

Yifan Zhou et al 2026 The Astronomical Journal 172 .

  • Provider: AAS Journals

Caption: Figure 17.

Observed mirror tilt and resulting coronagraphic PSF change. Left: measured ΔWFE (wavefront errors) from WFS observations bracketing these data. Moderate tilts are observed affecting segments on the right (+V2) deployed wing of the primary. The observed pattern shows only piston–tip–tilt segment motions; no micrometeor impacts are detected. Left center: same ΔWFE multiplied by the NIRCam Lyot stop. The affected segments are mostly but not entirely blocked. Right center: observed coronagraphic PSF of β Pic in F210M; the debris disk is faintly visible as a diffuse diagonal without PSF subtraction. Right: change in PSF speckle pattern (after minus before) at the time of the discontinuity event. The display scale is 10× smaller than the full PSF panel; the speckle change is subtle but sufficient to produce the discontinuities seen in the β Pic b time series.

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