HR 4796A: A Recipe for Planets
Explanation:
Two hundred and twenty light years from Earth, planets are forming.
Recent observations of the
binary star system
HR 4796 have shown that one of the stars is surrounded by a
dusty gaseous disk.
This disk is of the right size, age, and density for
dust pellets to accrete surrounding matter.
A hole in the disk's center indicates that
increasingly larger condensates are colliding and sticking together,
coalescing into
moons and
planets.
Pictured above is a false-color image of the system, with the bright star
HR 4796A indicated by a cross. The disk measures
about five times the size of
our Solar System, and is seen nearly edge-on.
HR 4796 is in the
southern constellation Centaurus.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
