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Gap in Stellar Dust Disk May Be Swept Out By Planet

Gap in Stellar Dust Disk May Be Swept Out By Planet
A striking NASA Hubble Space Telescope near-infrared picture of a disk around the star HD 141569, located about 320 light-years away in the constellation Libra. Hubble shows that the 75 billion-mile wide disk seems to come in two parts: a dark band separates a bright inner region from a fainter outer region. The structure superficially looks much like the largest gap in Saturn's rings - but on a vastly larger scale. The Hubble image, taken at a wavelength of 1.1 microns, was made using the coronagraph in the Near Infrared and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) to reduce the glare of the star. The observed radiation from the disk is caused by dust particles which reflect the light of the central star. The dark spikes in the image are regions where there are no useful data due to diffraction artifacts introduced by the optical systems of the telescope and camera. The central portion of the disk remains unseen because of residual glare from the bright star.

About the Object

  • R.A. Position
    R.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
    15h 49m 57.74s
  • Dec. Position
    Dec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
    -3° 55' 16.35"
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    HD 141569
  • Release Date
    January 8, 1999
  • Science Release
    Hubble Views of Dust Disks and Rings Surrounding Young Stars Yield Clues
    Read the release
  • Credit
    Credit: Alycia Weinberger, Eric Becklin (UCLA), Glenn Schneider (University of Arizona) and NASA

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Related Images & Videos

HD 141569 and HR 4796A

HD 141569 and HR 4796A

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has given astronomers their first views of a dust ring around the star HR 4796A and a dark gap dividing an immense dust disk around the star HD 141569. These images may provide important clues to possible planet formation.

Dust Ring Around Star HR 4796A Offers New Clues Into Planet Formation

Dust Ring Around Star HR 4796A Offers New Clues Into Planet Formation

A NASA Hubble Space Telescope false-color near infrared image of a novel type of structure seen in space - a dust ring around a star. Superficially resembling Saturn's rings – but on a vastly larger scale – the "hula-hoop" around the star called HR 4796A offers new clues into...

Orbit of HR 4796A

Orbit of HR 4796A

An artist's concept of the star HR 4796A and its surrounding ring, illustrating the size of the ring.

Orbit of HD141569

Orbit of HD141569

An artist's concept of the star HD141569 and its surrounding ring, illustrating the size of the ring system.

Orbit of HD141569

Coronagraph Demonstration

To image the dust ring aroung star HR 4796A Hubble scientists used their infrared camera's coronagraph to eclipse the star's light and reveal the fainter ring that had not been visible next to the brighness of the star.

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Details

Last Updated
Mar 28, 2025
Contact
Media

Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov

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