Hubble image archive
Vega Webb Compass Image
Caption This is a James Webb Space Telescope view of a 100-billion-mile-wide disk of dust around the star Vega. The disk is remarkably smooth and there is no debatable evidence for planet formation taking place. Webb resolves the glow of warm dust in a disk halo, at 23 billion mi...
- Date
- Nov 1, 2024
- Mission
- Hubble Space Telescope
- Archive ID
- hubblesite-images-2024-030-01jbf24xmpa7pefdcm4vwy0v07
Caption
This is a James Webb Space Telescope view of a 100-billion-mile-wide disk of dust around the star Vega. The disk is remarkably smooth and there is no debatable evidence for planet formation taking place. Webb resolves the glow of warm dust in a disk halo, at 23 billion miles out. The outer disk (analogous to the solar system’s Kuiper Belt) extends from 7 billion miles to 15 billion miles. The inner disk extends from the inner edge of the outer disk down to close proximity to the star. There is a notable dip in surface brightness of the inner disk from approximately 3.7 to 7.2 billion miles. The black spot at the center is due to lack of data from saturation.
Image Details
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | Vega |
| Object Description | Dusty debris disk |
| R.A. Position | 18:36:56.34 |
| Dec. Position | +38:47:01.28 |
| Constellation | Lyra |
| Distance | 25 light-years |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | The Webb observations include those from program (C. Beichman) |
| Instrument | MIRI |
| Exposure Dates | August 2023 |
| Filters | F2550W |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | The image is an exposure acquired by the MIRI nstrument on the James Webb Space Telescope. The color results from assigning an orange hue to a monochromatic (grayscale) image. |
| About The Image | |
| Compass and Scale Image | An astronomical image with a scale that shows how large an object is on the sky, a compass that shows how the object is oriented on the sky, and the filters with which the image was made. |
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Source
Image and source material are credited to the official mission archive linked below.
View on NASA.gov