This image of the dusty debris disk surrounding the young star Fomalhaut is from Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). It reveals three nested belts extending out to 14 billion miles (23 billion kilometers) from the star. The inner belts – which had never been seen before – were revealed by Webb for the first time.
This image of the dusty debris disk surrounding the young star Fomalhaut is from Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). It reveals three nested belts extending out to 14 billion miles (23 billion kilometers) from the star. The inner belts – which had never been seen before – were revealed by Webb for the first time. IMAGE: NASA, ESA, CSA IMAGE PROCESSING: András Gáspár (University of Arizona), Alyssa Pagan (STScI) SCIENCE: András Gáspár (University of Arizona)
Astrophysics, Science

Webb Looks for Fomalhaut’s Asteroid Belt and Finds Much More

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Nearby Planetary System Seen in Breathtaking Detail

News from NASA, ESA, STScI

A new Webb Space Telescope image of the bright, nearby star Fomalhaut reveals its planetary system with details never seen before, including nested concentric rings of dust. Gravitational forces produced by embedded, unseen planets likely carved these belts. Similarly, inside our solar system Jupiter corrals the asteroid belt of leftover debris that lies between us and the giant planet. Astronomers first discovered Fomalhaut’s…

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