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TW Hydrae Disk

Two side-by-side frames labeled 2016 (left) and 2021 (right). Both feature a reddish-white inner ring with a dark center and a broader, fuzzier, and fainter reddish outer ring. In the left image a shadow can be seen at the 11:00 o'clock position and is marked with a wedge-shaped dotted line labeled A. The image on the right shows two shadows at the 11:00 o'clock and 7:00 o'clock positions. They are also highlighted with wedge-shaped dotted lines labeled B and C, respectively. At lower right, a scale bar is labeled 1 arcsecond, 5 billion miles.

Comparison images from the Hubble Space Telescope, taken several years apart, have uncovered two eerie shadows moving counterclockwise across a gas-and-dust disk encircling the young star TW Hydrae. The disks are tilted face-on to Earth and so give astronomers a bird's-eye view of what's happening around the star. The left image, taken in 2016, shows just one shadow [A] at the 11:00 o'clock position. This shadow is cast by an inner disk that is slightly inclined to the outer disk and so blocks starlight. The picture on the left shows a second shadow that emerged from yet another nested disk [C] at the 7:00 o’clock position, as photographed in 2021. The original inner disk is marked [B] in this later view. The shadows rotate around the star at different rates like the hands on a clock. They are evidence for two unseen planets that have pulled dust into their orbits. This makes them slightly inclined to each other. This is a visible-light photo taken with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph. Artificial color, to enhance details, has been added.

About the Object

  • R.A. Position
    R.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
    11:01:51.9054
  • Dec. Position
    Dec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
    -34:42:17.0316
  • Constellation
    ConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
    Hydra
  • 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.
    196 light-years
  • Dimensions
    DimensionsThe physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky.
    Each image is 6.14 arcsec across, about 0.005 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 HST observations include those from program 16228 (J. Debes)

  • Instrument
    InstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.
    STIS/MIRVIS
  • Exposure Dates
    Exposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
    June 7, 2021
  • Filters
    FiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.
    MIRVIS
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    TW Hydrae
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    Face-on protoplanetary disk around a T Tauri star
  • Release Date
    May 4, 2023
  • Science Release
    Hubble Follows Shadow Play Around Planet-Forming Disk
    Read the release
  • Credit
    NASA, ESA, STScI, John Debes (AURA/STScI for ESA); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

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Two side-by-side frames labeled 2016 (left) and 2021 (right). Both feature a reddish-white inner ring with a dark center and a broader, fuzzier, and fainter reddish outer ring. In the left image a shadow can be seen at the 11:00 o'clock position and is marked with a wedge-shaped dotted line labeled A. The image on the right shows two shadows at the 11:00 o'clock and 7:00 o'clock positions. They are also highlighted with wedge-shaped dotted lines labeled B and C, respectively. At lower right, a scale bar is labeled 1 arcsecond, 5 billion miles.
Color Info
Color InfoA brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented.

The images are separate exposures acquired by the STIS instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope. The color results from assigning an orange hue to a monochromatic (grayscale) image.

Related Images & Videos

An artist's concept showing an oblique view of three concentric rings of dust and gas. At the center is a glowing sphere representing the central star. The reddish-colored rings are slightly inclined to each other due to the gravitational pull of unseen planets warping the disk structure. They are therefore casting dark shadows across the outermost ring at the 11 o'clock and 12 o'clock positions.

Concentric Gas-and-Dust Disks Around Star TW Hydrae (Artist's Concept)

This artist's concept is based on Hubble Space Telescope images of gas-and-dust disks around the young star TW Hydrae. Hubble Space Telescope photos show shadows sweeping across the disks encircling the system. The interpretation is these shadows are from slightly inclined inner...

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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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