JPL
Careers
Education
Science & Technology
JPL Logo
JPL Logo
Image

Circumstellar Disk Around Fomalhaut

Dec. 18, 2003
NASA Spitzer Space Telescope has obtained the first infrared images of the dust disc surrounding Fomalhaut, the 18th brightest star in the sky.

figure 1 for PIA04942

figure 2 for PIA04942

figure 3 for PIA04942

figure 4 for PIA04942

The NASA Spitzer Space Telescope has obtained the first infrared images of the dust disc surrounding Fomalhaut, the 18th brightest star in the sky. Planets are believed to form from such a flattened disc-like cloud of gas and dust orbiting a star very early in its life. The Spitzer telescope was designed in part to study these circumstellar discs, where the dust particles are so cold that they radiate primarily at infrared wavelengths. Located in the constellation Piscis Austrinus, the parent star and its putative planetary system is found at a distance of 25 light-years.

Twenty years ago, the Infrared Astronomical Satellite, the first orbiting infrared telescope, detected much more infrared radiation coming from Fomalhaut than was expected for a normal star of this type. The dust is presumed to be debris left over from the formation of a planetary system. However, the satellite did not have adequate spatial resolution to image the dust directly. Subsequent measurements with sub-millimeter radio telescopes suggested that Fomalhaut is surrounded by a huge dust ring 370 astronomical units (an astronomical unit is the average distance between the Sun and Earth), or 34 billion miles (56 billion kilometers) in diameter. This corresponds to a size of nearly five times larger than our own solar system. Moreover, the sub-millimeter observations (far right image) revealed that the ring was inclined 20 degrees from an edge-on view.

The new images obtained with the multiband imaging photometer instrument onboard Spitzer confirm this general picture, while revealing important new details of Fomalhaut's circumstellar dust. The 70-micron image (lower left) clearly shows an asymmetry in the dust distribution, with the southern lobe one-third brighter than the northern. Such an unbalanced structure could be produced by a collision between moderate-sized asteroids in the recent past (releasing a localized cloud of dust) or by the steering effects of ring particles by the gravitational influence of an unseen planet.

At 24 microns (upper left), the Spitzer image shows that the center of the ring is not empty. [Note that an image of a reference star was subtracted from the Fomalhaut image to reveal the faint disc emission.] Instead, the 'doughnut hole' is filled with warmer dust that extends inward to within at least 10 astronomical units of the parent star. This warm inner disc of dust occupies the region that is most likely to be occupied by planets and may be analogous to our solar system's 'zodiacal cloud' -- but with considerably more dust. One possible explanation for this warmer dust is that comets are being nudged out of the circumstellar ring by the gravitational influence of massive planets. These comets then loop in toward the central star, releasing dust particles just as comets do in our own solar system.

Download JPG
Download TIFF
Mission
Instrument
  • Multiband Imaging Photometer (MIPS)
Credit
NASA/JPL/Caltech/Maxwell Telescope

Keep Exploring

Orion Nebula in Infrared

Planetesimal Collison Around Star HD 166191 (Illustration)

Exoplanet XO-3b Illustration

Godzilla Nebula Imaged by Spitzer

Four Famous Nebulae

Hidden Supernova Spotted by Spitzer

Spitzer Image of Star Factory W51

Animation of Black Hole Disk Flare in OJ 287

Spitzer California Nebula Mosaic

Spitzer Brown Dwarf Wind (Artist's Concept)

Related Topics

Mission .

SPHEREx

News .

NASA’s Chandra, Webb Telescopes Combine for Arresting Views

News .

NASA’s Spitzer, TESS Find Potentially Volcano-Covered Earth-Size World

News .

NASA’s Webb Takes Closest Look Yet at Mysterious Planet

News .

Caught in the Act: Astronomers Detect a Star Devouring a Planet

Video .

What's Up - May 2023

News .

NASA’s Voyager Will Do More Science With New Power Strategy

Mission .

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

News .

NASA Study Helps Explain Limit-Breaking Ultra-Luminous X-Ray Sources

Video .

What's Up - April 2023

About JPL
Who We Are
Executive Council
Directors
Careers
Internships
The JPL Story
JPL Achievements
Documentary Series
Annual Reports
Missions
Current
Past
Future
All
News
All
Earth
Solar System
Stars and Galaxies
Subscribe to JPL News
Galleries
Images
Videos
Audio
Podcasts
Apps
Visions of the Future
Slice of History
Robotics at JPL
Events
Lecture Series
Team Competitions
Speakers Bureau
Calendar
Visit
Public Tours
Virtual Tour
Directions and Maps
Topics
JPL Life
Solar System
Mars
Earth
Climate Change
Exoplanets
Stars and Galaxies
Robotics
More
Asteroid Watch
NASA's Eyes Visualizations
Universe - Internal Newsletter
Social Media
Get the Latest from JPL
Follow Us

JPL is a federally funded research and development center managed for NASA by Caltech.

More from JPL
Careers Education Science & Technology Acquisitions JPL Store
Careers
Education
Science & Technology
Acquisitions
JPL Store
Related NASA Sites
Basics of Spaceflight
Climate Kids
Earth / Global Climate Change
Exoplanet Exploration
Mars Exploration
Solar System Exploration
Space Place
NASA's Eyes Visualization Project
Voyager Interstellar Mission
NASA
Caltech
Privacy
Image Policy
FAQ
Feedback
Site Managers: Veronica McGregor, Randal Jackson
Site Editors: Tony Greicius, Naomi Hartono
CL#: 21-0018