Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2023 May 6 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. Fomalhaut's Dusty Debris Disk Image Credit: [3]NASA, [4]ESA, [5]CSA, Processing: András Gáspár (Univ. of Arizona), Alyssa Pagan ([6]STScI), Science: [7]A. Gáspár (Univ. of Arizona) et al. Explanation: [8]Fomalhaut is a bright star, a 25 light-year [9]voyage from planet Earth in the direction of the constellation [10]Piscis Austrinus. Astronomers first [11]noticed Fomalhaut's excess infrared emission in the 1980s. Space and ground-based telescopes [12]have since identified the infrared emission's source as a disk of dusty debris surrounding the hot, young star related to the ongoing formation of a planetary system. [13]But this sharp infrared image from the James Webb Space Telescope's MIRI camera reveals details of Fomalhaut's debris disk never before seen, including a large dust cloud in the outer ring that is possible evidence for colliding bodies, and an inner dust disk and gap likely shaped and maintained by embedded but unseen planets. [14]An image scale bar in au or astronomical units, the average Earth-Sun distance, appears at the lower left. Fomalhaut's outer circumstellar dust ring lies at about twice the distance of our own Solar System's [15]Kuiper Belt of small icy bodies and debris beyond the orbit of Neptune. Tomorrow's picture: Halley dust __________________________________________________________________ [16]< | [17]Archive | [18]Submissions | [19]Index | [20]Search | [21]Calendar | [22]RSS | [23]Education | [24]About APOD | [25]Discuss | [26]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [27]Robert Nemiroff ([28]MTU) & [29]Jerry Bonnell ([30]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [31]Specific rights apply. [32]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [33]ASD at [34]NASA / [35]GSFC, [36]NASA Science Activation & [37]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2305/STSCI_FomalhautDisk.png 3. https://www.nasa.gov/ 4. https://www.esa.int/ 5. https://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/ 6. https://www.stsci.edu/ 7. https://arxiv.org/abs/2305.03789 8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fomalhaut 9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocannon's_World 10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piscis_Austrinus 11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap980423.html 12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap050701.html 13. https://webbtelescope.org/contents/news-releases/2023/news-2023-109 14. https://webbtelescope.org/contents/media/images/2023/109/01GWWHHHT27VZEQ5D1MK6EHD46 15. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/kuiper-belt/overview/ 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230505.html 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 20. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 25. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=230506 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230507.html 27. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 28. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 29. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 30. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 32. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 33. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 34. https://www.nasa.gov/ 35. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 36. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 37. http://www.mtu.edu/