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Circumplanetary Disk (Artist’s Concept)

An illustration of a young planet with a surrounding disk of dust and gas potentially forming moons. The planet, which appears dark red, is shown at lower right, circled by a cloudy, clumpy reddish orange-colored disk. The host star appears at upper left, and glows yellow, with its own reddish disk of debris. The disk that surrounds the planet takes up about half the illustration. The black background of space is speckled with stars. At the bottom of the illustration, graphics of molecules are listed in the following order: diacetylene, hydrogen cyanide, propyne, acetylene, ethane, carbon dioxide, benzene. The words Artist’s Concept appear at upper right.

An artistic rendering of a dust and gas disk encircling the young exoplanet, CT Cha b, 625 light-years from Earth. Spectroscopic data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope suggests the disk contains the raw materials for moon formation: diacetylene, hydrogen cyanide, propyne, acetylene, ethane, carbon dioxide, and benzene.  

The planet appears at lower right, while its host star and surrounding circumstellar disk are visible in the background.

  • Release Date
    September 29, 2025
  • Science Release
    NASA’s Webb Telescope Studies Moon-Forming Disk Around Massive Planet
    Read the release
  • Credit
    Illustration: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Gabriele Cugno (University of Zürich, NCCR PlanetS), Sierra Grant (Carnegie Institution for Science), Joseph Olmsted (STScI), Leah Hustak (STScI)

Downloads

  • Full res "Artist's Concept" watermarked, 3840x2160, 3840 × 2160
    png (8.7 MB)
  • Half res "Artist's Concept" watermarked, 1920x1080, 1920 × 1080
    png (1.76 MB)
  • Full res "Artist's Concept" watermarked, 3840x2160, 3840 × 2160
    jpg (4.37 MB)
  • Full res, 3840x2160, 3840 × 2160
    png (8.68 MB)
  • Half res, 1920x1080, 1920 × 1080
    png (1.75 MB)
  • Full res "Artist's Concept" watermarked (without molecules), 3840x2160, 3840 × 2160
    png (10.05 MB)
  • Half res "Artist's Concept" watermarked (without molecules), 1920x1080, 1920 × 1080
    png (1.86 MB)
  • Full res (without molecules), 3840x2160, 3840 × 2160
    png (10.04 MB)
  • Half res (without molecules), 1920x1080, 1920 × 1080
    png (1.85 MB)

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Details

Last Updated
Sep 30, 2025
Location
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Contact
Media

Laura Betz
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
laura.e.betz@nasa.gov

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