NASA astronomers have captured a debris disk around Fomalhaut, a young star, in an attempt to study the first asteroid belt outside our solar system in infrared light. However, observers discovered a much more complicated structure, three belts of dust extending to 14 billion miles from the star.
The photographs captured by the James Webb Space Telescope display an orange-toned glowing band, produced from thermal heat.“I would describe Fomalhaut as the archetype of debris disks found elsewhere in our galaxy because it has components similar to those we have in our own planetary system,” Andras Gaspar said in a NASA press release. Gaspar is an astronomer at the University of Arizona and the lead author of a paper analyzing the results, which were published in Nature Astronomy on Monday.
“By looking at the patterns in these rings, we can actually start to make a little sketch of what a planetary system ought to look like, if we could actually take a deep enough picture to see the suspected planets,” Gaspar said.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
JWST images revealed unexpected asteroids in the Fomalhaut star systemNew images of Fomalhaut confirm that an alleged planet is probably just dust while also revealing a new asteroid belt and a “Great Dust Cloud.”
Read more »
Spatially resolved imaging of the inner Fomalhaut disk using JWST/MIRI - Nature AstronomyJWST mid-infrared images of the nearby star Fomalhaut reveal a complex system of dusty rings and disks, created as debris from planetesimal collisions. These structures suggest the presence of a complex and probably dynamically active planetary system.
Read more »
Webb telescope spots three debris belts around luminous star FomalhautThere has been plenty of excitement in recent decades about planets detected orbiting various stars beyond our solar system. But planets provide an incomplete picture of the complex framework that exists around stars, leaving out components like the belts of rocky and icy debris orbiting our sun.
Read more »
Absolutely enormous asteroid belt discovered around a nearby starAstronomers used the James Webb Space Telescope to spot strange asteroid belts around the nearby star Fomalhaut, along with evidence for at least three planets
Read more »
James Webb Space Telescope snaps amazing photo of alien asteroid beltThe debris structures around the star Fomalhaut are more complex than comparable features in our own solar system.
Read more »
NASA developing snake-like robot to slither over one of Saturn’s 83 moonsNASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is in the midst of testing a new robot that it hopes to deploy into outer space to help answer the age-old question of whether life exists away from Earth.
Read more »