Finding Planetary Construction Zones - NASA Science

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In 1992, Hubble was the first telescope to resolve protoplanetary disks (dubbed “proplyds”) around stars in the Orion Nebula. Protoplanetary disks are dense gas and dust disks surrounding newly formed stars. Hubble’s high resolution and sensitivity, along with the Orion Nebula’s proximity, have allowed the telescope to image proplyds around nearly 200 stars in the nebula. Proplyds are pancake-like disks of mostly gas and some dust surrounding a young star. They are a prerequisite for the formation of planetary systems.

Hubble also completed the largest and most sensitive visible-light imaging survey of debris disks around stars. Debris disks are belts of dust and rubble that form when objects like asteroids and comets collide. Astronomers use them as “planet detectors.” Two particular stars highlight Hubble’s observations: TW Hydrae and Beta Pictoris.

In this video, Dr. Padi Boyd takes us on a journey through these remarkable objects, explaining how Hubble's observations are unraveling the mysteries of planet formation and providing a glimpse into the birthplaces of new solar systems. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center; Producer, Director & Editor: James Leigh

TW Haydrae Protoplanetary Disk

Using a mask to block the star’s bright light, Hubble scientists spotted a mysterious gap in a vast protoplanetary disk of gas and dust swirling around the star TW Hydrae. The gap is likely the result of a growing, unseen planet gravitationally sweeping up material and carving out a lane in the disk like a snowplow. The 1.9-billion-mile-wide (3 billion km) gap isn’t completely cleared of material yet.

Hubble Uncovers Evidence for Extrasolar Planet Under Construction

This Hubble image (left) and graphic (right) show a gap in a protoplanetary disk of dust and gas whirling around the nearby red dwarf star TW Hydrae.
NASA, ESA, J. Debes (STScI), H. Jang-Condell (University of Wyoming), A. Weinberger (Carnegie Institution of Washington), A. Roberge (Goddard Space Flight Center), G. Schneider (University of Arizona/Steward Observatory) and A. Feild (STScI/AURA)
Shadow on TW Hydrae's Disk

More recently, astronomers using Hubble noticed a change in brightness with position in TW Hydrae's disk. Because Hubble has 18 years' worth of observations of the star, the astronomers could assemble a time-lapse movie of the shadow's rotation. They think an unseen planet in the disk is gravitationally pulling on material near the star and warping the inner part of the disk. The twisted, misaligned inner disk is casting its shadow across the surface of the outer disk.

Hubble Captures ‘Shadow Play’ Caused by Possible Planet

This animation compiles images taken a year apart by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, which reveal a shadow moving counterclockwise around a gas-and-dust disk encircling the young star TW Hydrae.
NASA/ESA/J. Debes (STScI)

four part graphic showing orange rings against black

These Hubble images, taken a year apart, reveal a shadow moving counterclockwise around a gas-and-dust disk encircling the young star TW Hydrae. The two images at the top, taken by the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, show an uneven brightness across the disk. Through enhanced image processing (images at bottom), the darkening becomes even more apparent. These enhanced images allowed astronomers to determine the reason for the changes in brightness. The dimmer areas of the disk, at top left, are caused by a shadow spreading across the outer disk. The dotted lines approximate the shadow's coverage. The long arrows show how far the shadow has moved in a year (from 2015-2016), which is roughly 20 degrees. Based on Hubble archival data, astronomers determined that the shadow completes a rotation around the central star every 16 years. They know the feature is a shadow because dust and gas in the disk do not orbit the star nearly that quickly. So, the feature must not be part of the physical disk. The shadow may be caused by the gravitational effect of an unseen planet orbiting close to the star. The planet pulls up material from the main disk, creating a warped inner disk. The twisted disk blocks light from the star and casts a shadow onto the disk's outer region.

NASA, ESA, and J. Debes (STScI)

Beta Pictoris Planetary Disk

Hubble’s longevity also allowed researchers to chart changes in the disk surrounding the 20-million-year-old star Beta Pictoris. In 1998, Hubble’s visible-light views of the edge-on disk revealed undulations that computer models suggested were gravitational evidence of budding planets and possibly a companion brown dwarf or bypassing star. Roughly 10 years after Hubble’s observations, astronomers directly imaged a gas giant planet in the disk, still glowing from its recent formation.

Two images, both hold a black center with blue-white lobes on either side. Top is from 1997, bottom from 2012.

Ongoing changes seen in the disk allow scientists to study the effect of a massive planet embedded within the orbiting material. Beta Pictoris itself is hidden by the dark spot that masks out the the bright star at the center of each image, allowing astronomers to see the disk..

NASA, ESA, and D. Apai and G. Schneider (University of Arizona)

The blue Hubble image traces the disk to within 650 million miles (one billion km) of the star, a distance that would be the radius of Saturn's orbit about the Sun. Astronomers have uncovered at least two young planets around Beta Pictoris, and Hubble’s ground-breaking observations of the disk contributed greatly to those discoveries.

An Asymmetric Dust Disk

Hubble also captured a vast and complex dust structure extending some 150 billion miles (240 billion km) across, enveloping the young, 8-million-year-old star HR 4796A. The bright ring, about 7 billion miles (11 billion km) from the star, is a debris field of very fine dust that is likely the result of developing planets colliding near the star. Light pressure from the star, which is 23 times more luminous than the Sun, expelled the dust far into space. The wider debris field is much more extended in one direction than the other. This may be due to the star’s motion through space, or it may be the result of a gravitational tug from the star’s binary companion, a red dwarf star (HR 4796B) at least 54 billion miles (87 billion km) from HR 4796A.

Hubble Finds Huge System of Dusty Material Enveloping the Young Star HR 4796A

HR 4796A
NASA/ESA/G. Schneider (Univ. of Arizona)
Protoplanet around PDS 70b

Hubble was the first observatory to image a forming planet (PDS 70b) in ultraviolet light (UV). Hubble’s unique UV capabilities gave planetary scientists the first opportunity to witness extremely hot gas falling onto the planet. The Jupiter-sized world is slowly accumulating matter, allowing researchers to estimate how fast the planet is gaining mass. Located 370 light-years from Earth, the remote planet took about 5 million years to grow to its present size of up to five times the mass of Jupiter. If PDS 70b’s accretion rate remains steady for another million years, the planet would only grow by roughly 1/100th of a Jupiter mass.

Hubble Watches How a Giant Planet Grows

Hubble observations pinpoint planet PDS 70b. A coronagraph on Hubble’s camera blocks out the glare of the central star for the planet to be directly observed.
NASA, ESA, McDonald Observatory–University of Texas, Yifan Zhou (UT); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)
AB Aurigae b

Hubble's longevity and high resolution also came into play when its Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) and its Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrograph (NICMOS) directly imaged another forming Jupiter-like protoplanet, called AB Aurigae b, over a 13-year span. Hubble captured the growing exoplanet embedded in a disk that has distinct spiral structures swirling around the young star AB Auriagae. The planet is about nine times more massive than Jupiter and orbits some 8.6 billion miles (13.6 billion km) from the star – over two times farther than Pluto is from the Sun.

Hubble Finds a Planet Forming in an Unconventional Way

In the top right, Hubble’s Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrograph image captured in 2007 shows AB Aurigae b in a due south position compared to its host star, which is covered by the instrument’s coronagraph. The image captured in 2021 by Hubble's Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph shows the protoplanet has moved in a counterclockwise motion over time.
Science: NASA, ESA, Thayne Currie (Subaru Telescope, Eureka Scientific Inc.); Image Processing: Thayne Currie (Subaru Telescope, Eureka Scientific Inc.), Alyssa Pagan (STScI)
Vega’s Surprisingly Smooth Dust Disk

More recently, researchers used the combined power of Hubble and Webb to study the 100-billion-mile-diameter (160 billion km) debris field around the star Vega. They were surprised to find Vega’s disk looking smooth with no obvious evidence for large planets plowing through the disk, which is common around other young stars. Hubble sees debris the size of smoke particles, and Webb traces roughly sand-grain-sized particles closer to the star.

NASA’s Hubble, Webb Probe Surprisingly Smooth Disk Around Vega

Vega's Dust Disk
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, S. Wolff (University of Arizona), K. Su (University of Arizona), A. Gáspár (University of Arizona)

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Hubble observations of Beta Pictoris

Hubble Gets Best View of a Circumstellar Debris Disk Distorted by a Planet

When comparing the latest Hubble images to those taken in 1997, astronomers find that the disk's dust distribution has barely changed over 15 years despite the fact that the entire structure is orbiting the star like a carousel.

Artists concept: 3 concentric rings of dust and gas. At center: a glowing sphere. Reddish-colored rings inclined to each other due to gravity of unseen planets warping the disk, casting shadows across the outermost ring at 11 o'clock and 12 o'clock.

Hubble Follows Shadow Play Around Planet-Forming Disk

Explore hands-on activities, interactive, lesson plans, educator guides, and other downloadable content about this topic.

five protoplanetary disks observed by Hubble in Orion Nebula

Hubble Surveys Star Birth, Proto-Planetary Systems in the Great Orion Nebula

The survey produced 153 proto-planetary disks that are glowing due to a torrent of ultraviolet radiation from the nebula's central stars.

four part graphic showing orange rings against black

Hubble Captures "Shadow Play" Caused by Possible Planet

A possible planet in a nearby stellar system may be betraying its presence in a unique way.

Annotated image. Dark sphere at center. At the equator of the sphere, a line of orangish-pink extends from both sides of the planet. A fainter line also extends from both sides of the planet. It is inclined slightly to the planet's equator.

Hubble Reveals Two Dust Disks Around Star Beta Pictoris

The images offer tantalizing new evidence for at least one Jupiter-size planet orbiting Beta Pictoris.

TW Hydrae Hubble observation (left) and illustration (right)

Hubble Uncovers Evidence for Extrasolar Planet Under Construction

Hubble's sharp eye has detected a mysterious gap in a vast protoplanetary disk of gas and dust swirling around the nearby star TW Hydrae, located 176 light-years away.

Hubble observations pinpoint planet PDS 70b.

Hubble Watches How a Giant Planet Grows

Hubble offered a rare look at a Jupiter-sized, still-forming planet that is feeding off material surrounding a young star.

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.

NASA’s Hubble, Webb Probe Surprisingly Smooth Disk Around Vega

Teams of astronomers used the combined power of NASA's Hubble and James Webb space telescopes to revisit the legendary Vega disk.

Hubble Science Highlights

Discover the breadth and depth of Hubble's exciting discoveries!

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Hubble image left to right: Jupiter, Uranus, Saturn, Neptune

Studying the Planets and Moons

Hubble’s systematic observations chart the ever-changing environments of our solar system's planets and their moons.

animation of a binary asteroid with a shifting tail

Tracking Evolution in the Asteroid Belt

These conglomerates of rock and ice may hold clues to the early solar system.

Three views of Pluto. Three mottled circles in colors of yellow, grey, rusty-orange, and black.

Uncovering Icy Objects in the Kuiper Belt

Hubble’s discoveries helped NASA plan the New Horizon spacecraft’s flyby of Pluto and beyond.

The Mystic Mountain is seen as a chaotic pillar of colorful gas and dust, narrowing toward the top of the image. The dust and gas is mostly yellow, brown, and orange, all jutting against a hazy purple and blue background with a few pink stars.

Exploring the Birth of Stars

Seeing ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared light helps Hubble uncover the mysteries of star formation.

Hubble image of the Crab Nebula

The Death Throes of Stars

When stars die, they throw off their outer layers, creating the clouds that birth new stars.

Artist's impression of the ten hot Jupiter exoplanets. Two rows of exoplanet illustrations. There are 5 planets of varying sizes, colors, and atmospheric features in each row.

Recognizing Worlds Beyond Our Sun

Hubble can detect and measure the basic organic components for life on planets orbiting other stars

Hubble view of an expanding halo of light around star v838 monocerotis

Seeing Light Echoes

Like ripples on a pond, pulses of light reverberate through cosmic clouds forming echoes of light.

Hubble Ultra Deep Field image

Tracing the Growth of Galaxies

Hubble's Deep Field observations are instrumental in tracing the growth of galaxies.

Comma shaped curved cloud of gases in bright white edged with bright-pink star forming regions, and threaded with rusty-brown tendrils of dust at center and throughout the comma shaped merger. All set against the black of deep space.

Galaxy Details and Mergers

Galaxies evolve through gravitational interaction with their neighbors, creating a menagerie of forms.

Computer simulation of a supermassive black hole at the core of a galaxy. Center is a black circle. Surrounding the black circle are arcs of red, blue, orange, and white. Further out from the circle are blotches of red, blue, orange, and white representing celestial objects.

Monster Black Holes are Everywhere

Supermassive black holes lie at the heart of nearly every galaxy.

Six Hubble images in a grid of three across and two down. Each is a gamma-ray burst in a host galaxy. The images are orange-red and white with hints of yellow.

Homing in on Cosmic Explosions

Hubble helps astronomers better understand and define some of the largest explosions in the universe.

Cepheid star in Andromeda galaxy (Hubble observations)

Discovering the Runaway Universe

Our cosmos is growing, and that expansion rate is accelerating.

A field of galaxies along with the curved arcs of gravitationally lensed galaxies.

Focusing in on Gravitational Lenses

Gravitational lenses are 'Nature's Boost', expanding our view deeper into space and farther back in time.

A cluster of galaxies fills the frame. A purple glow around the largest concentrations of galaxies indicates the distribution of dark matter.

Shining a Light on Dark Matter

The gravitational pull of dark matter guides the formation of everything we can see in the universe.

Top: Three views going back in time show slices of the cosmos. Bottom: A computer simulated, 3-D map of the distribution of dark matter.

Mapping the Cosmic Web

Filaments and sheets of matter create an interconnected web that forms the large-scale structure of the universe.