Fomalhaut Dust Disk Indicates Planets
Explanation:
One of the brightest stars on the sky likely has planets.
Fomalhaut, actually the 17th
brightest star in the night sky, is a mere 22
light-years away but only a fraction of the age of our
Sun.
Recent observations in
far infrared light with a detector cooled to near zero
kelvins indicate a
dust disk surrounding
Fomalhaut that has both a hole in the center and a warped
edge.
Now the hole in the center indicates that
dust has fallen onto interior planets --
possibly like the
Earth -- while the warp at the edge
indicates the gravitational pull of a planet like
Jupiter or
Saturn.
The
discovery image was taken with the
SCUBA instrument through the
James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in
Hawaii,
USA.
The
above illustration shows what the
Fomalhaut dusty
planetary system
might look like from near the large planet.
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.
