Itsy Bitsy Solar System

Spitzer_sig05-022_1024

spitzer_sig05-022 November 29th, 2005

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle (SSC)

This artist's conception compares a hypothetical solar system centered around a tiny "sun" (top) to a known solar system centered around a star, called 55 Cancri, which is about the same size as our sun. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, in combination with other ground-based and orbiting telescopes, discovered the beginnings of such a miniature solar system 500 light-years away in the Chamaeleon constellation.

The tiny system consists of an unusually small "failed" star, or brown dwarf, called Cha 110913-773444, and a surrounding disk of gas and dust that might one day form planets. At a mass of only eight times that of Jupiter, the brown dwarf is actually smaller than several known extrasolar planets. The largest planet in the 55 Cancri system is about four Jupiter masses.

Astronomers speculate that the disk around Cha 110913-773444 might have enough mass to make a small gas giant and a few Earth-sized rocky planets, as depicted here around the little brown dwarf.

Provider: Spitzer Space Telescope

Image Source: http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/2393-sig05-022-Itsy-Bitsy-Solar-System

Curator: Spitzer Space Telescope, Pasadena, CA, USA

Image Use Policy: http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/info/18-Image-Use-Policy

View Options

Image Details

Image Type
Artwork
Object Name
55 Cancri Cha 110913-773444
Subject - Milky Way
Star > Circumstellar Material > Planetary System
Star > Type > Brown Dwarf

Distance

Universescale1
500 light years
Spitzer_sig05-022_1280
×
ID
sig05-022
Subject Category
B.3.7.1.   B.3.2.3.  
Subject Name
55 Cancri, Cha 110913-773444
Credits
NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle (SSC)
Release Date
2005-11-29
Lightyears
500
Redshift
500
Reference Url
http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/2393-sig05-022-Itsy-Bitsy-Solar-System
Type
Artwork
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Facility
Instrument
Color Assignment
Band
Bandpass
Central Wavelength
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
Equinox
Reference Value
Reference Dimension
Reference Pixel
Scale
Rotation
Coordinate System Projection:
Quality
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
Spitzer Space Telescope
URL
http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu
Name
Spitzer Space Telescope
Email
Telephone
Address
1200 E. California Blvd.
City
Pasadena
State/Province
CA
Postal Code
91125
Country
USA
Rights
http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/info/18-Image-Use-Policy
Publisher
Spitzer Science Center
Publisher ID
spitzer
Resource ID
sig05-022.tif
Metadata Date
2012-10-11
Metadata Version
1.1
×

 

Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×
Universescalefull
500 light years

Providers | Sign In