ObserveTheSky
ObserveTheSky › Everything in the sky › Beta Pictoris
star · young star with a planet-forming disc

Beta Pictoris compared to the Sun

Young star with an edge-on dust disc and three giant planets, two of them directly imaged.

How big is Beta Pictoris compared to the Sun?

Beta Pictoris is roughly one and a half times as wide as the Sun.

How much mass does Beta Pictoris have compared to the Sun?

Beta Pictoris has roughly one and three quarters times the mass of the Sun.

What is the volume of Beta Pictoris compared to the Sun?

Beta Pictoris has roughly three and a half times the volume of the Sun.

How hot is Beta Pictoris compared to the Sun?

Beta Pictoris’s surface is 7,781 °C. The Sun’s surface is 5,499 °C.

Worth knowing about Beta Pictoris

You see Beta Pictoris as it was 64 years ago.

Why it stands out
One of the best real windows into what our own solar system’s disc may have looked like when the Sun was young.
How much light it gives off
8.7 solar luminosities.
What it is
A young star surrounded by an edge-on disc of dust and rubble, with giant planets directly photographed orbiting inside the disc — b in 2008 and d in 2026.
How we know: Direct imaging: a coronagraph blocks the star’s glare to reveal the disc and the planets directly.
Beta Pictoris — A model, seen from the Earth, with north up.
The numbers
Across2.129 million km
Distance from us64 light-years
Surface temperature7,781 °C
Light given off8.7 × the Sun

We use 64 light-years, from Gaia; Hipparcos gave 63.4.

How anyone knows this

Things like it

The SunstarNaked eyeProxima Centauristar150 mm telescopeSiriusstarNaked eyeVegastarNaked eyeArcturusstarNaked eyeTRAPPIST-1starBeyond a 150 mm telescope

Games it appears in

Show Beta Pictoris in the model🧭 Where is Beta Pictoris?🕒 When can I see Beta Pictoris?📖 How the Milky Way fits together🌙 Plan an evening outside