Tag Archive for 'Debris'

The types of collisions within young stellar systems known as extreme debris disks are relevant to scientists’ understanding of our own Solar System, which is thought to have undergone similar impact events that created our Moon and shaped Earth’s initial state. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Joseph Olmsted, STScI.

Strange Dusty Disks around Young Stars May Be Wreckage of Moon- and Mars-Sized Collisions

Oct 2, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

New observations of 21 extreme debris disks suggest the dust comes from violent impacts between planet-building bodies, and could even flag star systems...

This ARKS gallery of faint debris disks reveals details about their shape: belts with multiple rings, wide smooth halos, sharp edges, and unexpected arcs and clumps, which hint at the presence of planets shaping these disks; and chemical make-up: the amber colors highlight the location and abundance of the dust in the 24 disks surveyed, while the blue their carbon monoxide gas location and abundance in the six gas-rich disks. Image credit: Sebastian Marino / Sorcha Mac Manamon / ARKS Collaboration.

ALMA Captures Sharpest Views Yet of Exoplanetary Debris Disks

Jan 20, 2026 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have produced the unprecedented high-resolution images of 24 debris disks —...

This Hubble image shows the debris ring and dust clouds cs1 and cs2 around Fomalhaut. Image credit: NASA / ESA / P. Kalas, UC Berkeley / J. DePasquale, STScI.

Hubble Captures Collision of Two Planetesimals around Fomalhaut

Dec 19, 2025 by News Staff

Fomalhaut — the 18th brightest star visible in night sky — is orbited by a compact source, Fomalhaut b, which has previously been interpreted...

This artist’s impression shows an exoplanet (left) that has approached too close to a white dwarf (right) and been torn apart by tidal forces from the star. Image credit: NASA / CXC / SAO / M. Weiss.

Enigmatic X-Ray Emission from Distant White Dwarf Points to Destroyed Exoplanet

Mar 5, 2025 by News Staff

Astronomers may finally have settled the question of what is causing highly energetic X-rays from WD 2226-210, a white dwarf star located at the center...

Hubble acquired this image of the circumstellar disk around Vega using the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS). Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / S. Wolff, University of Arizona / K. Su, University of Arizona / A. Gáspár, University of Arizona.

Hubble and Webb Take Closer Look at Planetary Debris Disk around Vega

Nov 1, 2024 by News Staff

There is no obvious evidence for one or more large exoplanets plowing through the face-on debris disk encircling Vega, one of the brightest stars in the...