Vega: Two Belts and the Possibility of Planets

Spitzer_ssc2013-02b_1024

spitzer_ssc2013-02b January 8th, 2013

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Astronomers have discovered what appears to be a large asteroid belt around the bright star Vega, as illustrated here at left in brown. The ring of warm, rocky debris was detected using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, and the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory, in which NASA plays an important role.

In this diagram, the Vega system, which was already known to have a cooler outer belt of comets (orange), is compared to our solar system with its asteroid and Kuiper belts. The relative size of our solar system compared to Vega is illustrated by the small drawing in the middle. On the right, our solar system is scaled up four times.

The comparison illustrates that both systems have inner and outer belts with similar proportions. The gap between the inner and outer debris belts in both systems works out to a ratio of about 1-to-10, with the outer belt 10 times farther away from its host star than the inner belt.

Astronomers think that the gap in the Vega system may be filled with planets, as is the case in our solar system.

Provider: Spitzer Space Telescope

Image Source: http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/5527-ssc2013-02b-Vega-Two-Belts-and-the-Possibility-of-Planets

Curator: Spitzer Space Telescope, Pasadena, CA, USA

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

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Spitzer_ssc2013-02b_1280
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ID
ssc2013-02b
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Credits
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Type
Artwork
Image Quality
Good
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Notes
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Equinox
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FITS Header
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Creator (Curator)
Spitzer Space Telescope
URL
http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu
Name
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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
ssc2013-02b.tif
Metadata Date
2013-01-08
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