Gap In Stellar Dust Disk May Be Swept Out By Planet
A striking NASA/ESA 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.
Credit:
About the Image
NASA press release
NASA caption
NASA caption
| Id: | opo9903b |
| Type: | Observation |
| Release date: | 8 January 1999, 06:00 |
| Size: | 240 x 208 px |
About the Object
| Name: | HD 141569, IRAS 15473-0346 |
| Type: | • Milky Way : Star : Evolutionary Stage : White Dwarf • Milky Way : Star : Circumstellar Material : Planetary System • Milky Way : Star : Circumstellar Material : Disk |
| Distance: | 300 light years |
Colours & filters
| Band | Wavelength | Telescope |
| Infrared Near-IR |
1.1 μm | Hubble Space Telescope NICMOS |
