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Hubble and Webb Observations of Vega Circumstellar Disk

A two-panel image split down the middle vertically. At the left is the Vega disk as imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope. The disk is perfectly circular, and at the center is a black spot blocking out the bright glow of a star. Closer to the center, the disk is white. Radial striations extend out from the center, giving a ripple effect to the disk like the end of a sausage casing. The outer edge of the circular disk is blue. At the right, the Webb image of the disk is an orange colored, smooth, fuzzy halo. The inner disk is whiter toward the center, and there is darker lane between the inner disk and the more orange outer disk. The disk is also perfectly circular, with a black circle in the center blocking light from the star.

[left]
A Hubble Space Telescope false-color view of a 100-billion-mile-wide disk of dust around the summer star Vega. Hubble detects reflected light from dust that is the size of smoke particles largely in a halo on the periphery of the disk. The disk is very smooth, with no evidence of embedded large planets. The black spot at the center blocks out the bright glow of the hot young star.

[right]
The James Webb Space Telescope resolves the glow of warm dust in a disk halo, at 23 billion miles out. The outer disk (analogous to the solar system's Kuiper Belt) extends from 7 billion miles to 15 billion miles. The inner disk extends from the inner edge of the outer disk down to close proximity to the star. There is a notable dip in surface brightness of the inner disk from approximately 3.7 to 7.2 billion miles. The black spot at the center is due to lack of data from saturation.

About the Object

  • R.A. Position
    R.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
    18:36:56.34
  • Dec. Position
    Dec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
    +38:47:01.28
  • Constellation
    ConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
    Lyra
  • Distance
    DistanceThe physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs.
    25 light-years

About the Data

  • Data Description
    Data DescriptionProposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
    Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.

    The Hubble observations include those from program 16666 (S. Wolff) and the Webb observations include those from program 1193 (C. Beichman and A. Gáspár)

  • Instrument
    InstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.
    Hubble: STIS; Webb: MIRI
  • Exposure Dates
    Exposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
    Hubble: April 2022 - February 2023; Webb: August 2023
  • Filters
    FiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.
    Hubble: STIS 50CORON; Webb: MIRI F2550W
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    Vega
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    Dusty debris disk
  • Release Date
    November 1, 2024
  • Science Release
    NASA’s Hubble, Webb Probe Surprisingly Smooth Disk Around Vega
    Read the release
  • Credit
    NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, S. Wolff (University of Arizona), K. Su (University of Arizona), A. Gáspár (University of Arizona)

Downloads

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  • Hubble Only - Full Res (For Display), 2093 × 2091
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  • Hubble Only - Full Res (For Print), 2093 × 2091
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  • Hubble Only, 2000 × 1998
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  • Webb Only - Full Res (For Display), 2148 × 2148
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  • Webb Only - Full Res (For Print), 2148 × 2148
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  • Webb Only, 2000 × 2000
    jpg (648.72 KB)
A two-panel image split down the middle vertically. At the left is the Vega disk as imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope. The disk is perfectly circular, and at the center is a black spot blocking out the bright glow of a star. Closer to the center, the disk is white. Radial striations extend out from the center, giving a ripple effect to the disk like the end of a sausage casing. The outer edge of the circular disk is blue. At the right, the Webb image of the disk is an orange colored, smooth, fuzzy halo. The inner disk is whiter toward the center, and there is darker lane between the inner disk and the more orange outer disk. The disk is also perfectly circular, with a black circle in the center blocking light from the star.
Color Info
Color InfoA brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented.

These images were acquired by the STIS instrument on the Hubble and MIRI instrument on Webb. The color results from assigning a hue to a monochromatic (grayscale) image, blue for Hubble and orange for Webb.

Compass and Scale
Compass and ScaleAn astronomical image with a scale that shows how large an object is on the sky, a compass that shows how the object is oriented on the sky, and the filters with which the image was made.

Related Images & Videos

The Vega debris disk as seen by Hubble. At the lower left is a scale bar labeled 5 arcsec. The length of the scale bar is about one fifteenth the total width of the image. At the bottom right are compass arrows to indicate the orientation of the image on the sky. The north arrow points in the 12 o'clock direction. The east arrow points toward 9 o'clock.

Vega Hubble Compass Image

A Hubble Space Telescope false-color view of a 100-billion-mile-wide disk of dust around the summer star Vega. Hubble detects reflected light from dust that is the size of smoke particles largely in a halo on the periphery of the disk. The disk is very smooth, with no evidence...

The Vega debris disk as seen by Webb. At the lower left is a scale bar labeled 5 arcsec. The length of the scale bar is about one fifteenth the total width of the image. At the bottom right are compass arrows indicate the orientation of the image on the sky. The north arrow points in the 12 o'clock direction. The east arrow points toward 9 o'clock. Below the image is a color key showing which MIRI filters were used to create the image and which visible-light color is assigned to each filter: F2550W is red.

Vega Webb Compass Image

This is a James Webb Space Telescope view of a 100-billion-mile-wide disk of dust around the star Vega. The disk is remarkably smooth and there is no debatable evidence for planet formation taking place. Webb resolves the glow of warm dust in a disk halo, at 23 billion miles...

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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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