Stunning Exoplanet Time-lapse

ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) has captured an unprecedented series of images showing the passage of the exoplanet Beta Pictoris b around its parent star. This young, massive exoplanet was initially discovered in 2008 using the NACO instrument at the VLT. Astronomers have since tracked the exoplanet, making observations from late 2014 until late 2016 using the VLT's Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch instrument (SPHERE). These observations are shown here as a time-lapse depicting the passage of Beta Pictoris b around its host star.