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Dusty Planetary Disks Around Two Nearby Stars Resemble Our Kuiper Belt
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By NASA
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30 Years On, NASA’s Wind Is a Windfall for Studying our Neighborhood in Space
An artist’s concept of NASA’s Wind spacecraft outside of Earth’s magnetosphere. NASA Picture it: 1994. The first World Wide Web conference took place in Geneva, the first Chunnel train traveled under the English Channel, and just three years after the end of the Cold War, the first Russian instrument on a U.S. spacecraft launched into deep space from Cape Canaveral. The mission to study the solar wind, aptly named Wind, held promise for heliophysicists and astrophysicists around the world to investigate basic plasma processes in the solar wind barreling toward Earth —key information for helping us understand and potentially mitigate the space weather environment surrounding our home planet.
Thirty years later, Wind continues to deliver on that promise from about a million miles away at the first Earth-Sun Lagrange Point (L1). This location is gravitationally balanced between Earth and the Sun, providing excellent fuel economy that requires mere puffs of thrust to stay in place.
According to Lynn Wilson, who is the Wind project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, fuel is only one indicator of Wind’s life expectancy, however. “Based on fuel alone, Wind can continue flying until 2074,” he said. “On the other hand, its ability to return data hinges on the last surviving digital tape recorder onboard.”
An artist’s concept shows a closeup of the Wind spacecraft. NASA Wind launched with two digital tape recorders to record data from all the instruments on the spacecraft and provide reports on the spacecraft’s thermal conditions, orientation, and overall health. Each recorder has two tape decks, A and B, which Wilson affectionately refers to as “fancy eight-tracks.”
After six years of service, the first digital tape recorder failed in 2000 along with its two tape decks, forcing mission operators to switch to the second one. Tape Deck A on that one started showing signs of wear in 2016, so the mission operators now use Tape Deck B as the primary deck, with A as a backup.
“They built redundancy into the digital tape recorder system by building two of them, but you can never predict how technology will perform when it’s a million miles away, bathing in ionizing radiation,” said Wilson. “We’re fortunate that after 30 years, we still have two functioning tape decks.”
Wind launched on Nov. 1, 1994, on a Delta IV rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. NASA Bonus Science
When Wind launched on Nov. 1, 1994, nobody could have possibly predicted that exactly 30 years later, NASA would be kicking off “Bonus Science” month in the Heliophysics Big Year. Beyond the mission’s incredible track record of mesmerizing discoveries about the solar wind — some detailed on its 25th anniversary — Wind continues to deliver with bonus science abound.
Opportunity and Collaborative Discovery
Along its circuitous journey to L1, Wind dipped in and out of Earth’s magnetosphere more than 65 times, capturing the largest whistler wave — a low-frequency radio wave racing across Earth’s magnetic field — ever recorded in Earth’s Van Allen radiation belts. Wind also traveled ahead of and behind Earth — about 150 times our planet’s diameter in both directions, informing potential future missions that would operate in those areas with extreme exposure to the solar wind. It even took a side quest to the Moon, cruising through the lunar wake, a shadow devoid of solar wind on the far side of the Moon.
Later, from its permanent home at L1, Wind was among several corroborating spacecraft that helped confirm what scientists believe is the brightest gamma-ray burst to occur since the dawn of human civilization. The burst, GRB 221009A, was first detected by NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope in October 2022. Although not in its primary science objectives, Wind carries two bonus instruments designed to observe gamma-ray bursts that helped scientists confirm the burst’s origin in the Sagitta constellation.
Academic Inspiration
More than 7,200 research papers have been published using Wind data, and the mission has supported more than 100 graduate and post-graduate degrees.
Wilson was one of those degree candidates. When Wind launched, Wilson was in sixth grade, on the football, baseball, and wrestling teams, with spare time spent playing video games and reading science fiction. He had a knack for science and considered becoming a medical doctor or an engineer before committing to his love of physics, which ultimately led to his current position as Wind’s project scientist. While pursuing his doctorate, he worked with Adam Szabo who was the Wind project scientist at NASA Goddard at the time and used Wind data to study interplanetary collisionless shock waves. Szabo eventually hired Wilson to work on the Wind mission team at Goddard.
Also in sixth grade at the time, Joe Westlake, NASA Heliophysics division director,was into soccer and music, and was a voracious reader consumed with Tolkein’s stories about Middle Earth. Now he leads the NASA office that manages Wind.
“It’s amazing to think that Lynn Wilson and I were in middle school, and the original mission designers and scientists have long since retired,” said Westlake. “When a mission makes it to 30 years, you can’t help but be inspired by the role it has played not only in scientific discovery, but in the careers of multiple generations of scientists.”
By Erin Mahoney
NASA Headquarters, Washington
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Last Updated Nov 01, 2024 Related Terms
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6 min read NASA’s Hubble, Webb Probe Surprisingly Smooth Disk Around Vega
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By Space Force
U.S. Space Force and U.S. Space Operations Command have transitioned two additional Space Deltas to fully-integrated Mission Deltas under the Unified Mission Readiness concept, marked by ceremonies Oct. 30-31, 2024.
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By NASA
Hubble Space Telescope Home NASA’s Hubble, Webb… Hubble Space Telescope Hubble Home Overview About Hubble The History of Hubble Hubble Timeline Why Have a Telescope in Space? Hubble by the Numbers At the Museum FAQs Impact & Benefits Hubble’s Impact & Benefits Science Impacts Cultural Impact Technology Benefits Impact on Human Spaceflight Astro Community Impacts Science Hubble Science Science Themes Science Highlights Science Behind Discoveries Hubble’s Partners in Science Universe Uncovered Explore the Night Sky Observatory Hubble Observatory Hubble Design Mission Operations Missions to Hubble Hubble vs Webb Team Hubble Team Career Aspirations Hubble Astronauts News Hubble News Hubble News Archive Social Media Media Resources Multimedia Multimedia Images Videos Sonifications Podcasts E-books Lithographs Fact Sheets Glossary Posters Hubble on the NASA App More Online Activities 6 Min Read NASA’s Hubble, Webb Probe Surprisingly Smooth Disk Around Vega
Teams of astronomers used the combined power of NASA’s Hubble and James Webb space telescopes to revisit the legendary Vega disk. Credits:
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, S. Wolff (University of Arizona), K. Su (University of Arizona), A. Gáspár (University of Arizona) In the 1997 movie “Contact,” adapted from Carl Sagan’s 1985 novel, the lead character scientist Ellie Arroway (played by actor Jodi Foster) takes a space-alien-built wormhole ride to the star Vega. She emerges inside a snowstorm of debris encircling the star — but no obvious planets are visible.
It looks like the filmmakers got it right.
A team of astronomers at the University of Arizona, Tucson used NASA’s Hubble and James Webb space telescopes for an unprecedented in-depth look at the nearly 100-billion-mile-diameter debris disk encircling Vega. “Between the Hubble and Webb telescopes, you get this very clear view of Vega. It’s a mysterious system because it’s unlike other circumstellar disks we’ve looked at,” said Andras Gáspár of the University of Arizona, a member of the research team. “The Vega disk is smooth, ridiculously smooth.”
The big surprise to the research team is that there is no obvious evidence for one or more large planets plowing through the face-on disk like snow tractors. “It’s making us rethink the range and variety among exoplanet systems,” said Kate Su of the University of Arizona, lead author of the paper presenting the Webb findings.
[left] A Hubble Space Telescope false-color view of a 100-billion-mile-wide disk of dust around the summer star Vega. Hubble detects reflected light from dust that is the size of smoke particles largely in a halo on the periphery of the disk. The disk is very smooth, with no evidence of embedded large planets. The black spot at the center blocks out the bright glow of the hot young star.
[right] The James Webb Space Telescope 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. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, S. Wolff (University of Arizona), K. Su (University of Arizona), A. Gáspár (University of Arizona)
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Webb sees the infrared glow from a disk of particles the size of sand swirling around the sizzling blue-white star that is 40 times brighter than our Sun. Hubble captures an outer halo of this disk, with particles no bigger than the consistency of smoke that are reflecting starlight.
The distribution of dust in the Vega debris disk is layered because the pressure of starlight pushes out the smaller grains faster than larger grains. “Different types of physics will locate different-sized particles at different locations,” said Schuyler Wolff of the University of Arizona team, lead author of the paper presenting the Hubble findings. “The fact that we’re seeing dust particle sizes sorted out can help us understand the underlying dynamics in circumstellar disks.”
The Vega disk does have a subtle gap, around 60 AU (astronomical units) from the star (twice the distance of Neptune from the Sun), but otherwise is very smooth all the way in until it is lost in the glare of the star. This shows that there are no planets down at least to Neptune-mass circulating in large orbits, as in our solar system, say the researchers.
Hubble acquired this image of the circumstellar disk around the star Vega using the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS). NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, S. Wolff (University of Arizona), K. Su (University of Arizona), A. Gáspár (University of Arizona)
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“We’re seeing in detail how much variety there is among circumstellar disks, and how that variety is tied into the underlying planetary systems. We’re finding a lot out about the planetary systems — even when we can’t see what might be hidden planets,” added Su. “There’s still a lot of unknowns in the planet-formation process, and I think these new observations of Vega are going to help constrain models of planet formation.”
Disk Diversity
Newly forming stars accrete material from a disk of dust and gas that is the flattened remnant of the cloud from which they are forming. In the mid-1990s Hubble found disks around many newly forming stars. The disks are likely sites of planet formation, migration, and sometimes destruction. Fully matured stars like Vega have dusty disks enriched by ongoing “bumper car” collisions among orbiting asteroids and debris from evaporating comets. These are primordial bodies that can survive up to the present 450-million-year age of Vega (our Sun is approximately ten times older than Vega). Dust within our solar system (seen as the Zodiacal light) is also replenished by minor bodies ejecting dust at a rate of about 10 tons per second. This dust is shoved around by planets. This provides a strategy for detecting planets around other stars without seeing them directly – just by witnessing the effects they have on the dust.
“Vega continues to be unusual,” said Wolff. “The architecture of the Vega system is markedly different from our own solar system where giant planets like Jupiter and Saturn are keeping the dust from spreading the way it does with Vega.”
Webb acquired this image of the circumstellar disk around the star Vega using the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, S. Wolff (University of Arizona), K. Su (University of Arizona), A. Gáspár (University of Arizona)
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For comparison, there is a nearby star, Fomalhaut, which is about the same distance, age and temperature as Vega. But Fomalhaut’s circumstellar architecture is greatly different from Vega’s. Fomalhaut has three nested debris belts.
Planets are suggested as shepherding bodies around Fomalhaut that gravitationally constrict the dust into rings, though no planets have been positively identified yet. “Given the physical similarity between the stars of Vega and Fomalhaut, why does Fomalhaut seem to have been able to form planets and Vega didn’t?” said team member George Rieke of the University of Arizona, a member of the research team. “What’s the difference? Did the circumstellar environment, or the star itself, create that difference? What’s puzzling is that the same physics is at work in both,” added Wolff.
First Clue to Possible Planetary Construction Yards
Located in the summer constellation Lyra, Vega is one of the brightest stars in the northern sky. Vega is legendary because it offered the first evidence for material orbiting a star — presumably the stuff for making planets — as potential abodes of life. This was first hypothesized by Immanuel Kant in 1775. But it took over 200 years before the first observational evidence was collected in 1984. A puzzling excess of infrared light from warm dust was detected by NASA’s IRAS (Infrared Astronomy Satellite). It was interpreted as a shell or disk of dust extending twice the orbital radius of Pluto from the star.
In 2005, NASA’s infrared Spitzer Space Telescope mapped out a ring of dust around Vega. This was further confirmed by observations using submillimeter telescopes including Caltech’s Submillimeter Observatory on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, and also the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile, and ESA’s (European Space Agency’s) Herschel Space Telescope, but none of these telescopes could see much detail. “The Hubble and Webb observations together provide so much more detail that they are telling us something completely new about the Vega system that nobody knew before,” said Rieke.
Two papers (Wolff et al. and Su et. al.) from the Arizona team will be published in The Astrophysical Journal.
The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
The Hubble Space Telescope has been operating for over three decades and continues to make ground-breaking discoveries that shape our fundamental understanding of the universe. Hubble is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope and mission operations. Lockheed Martin Space, based in Denver, Colorado, also supports mission operations at Goddard. The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, conducts Hubble science operations for NASA.
Explore More:
Finding Planetary Construction Zones
The science paper by Schuyler Wolff et al., PDF (3.24 MB)
The science paper by Kate Su et al., PDF (2.10 MB)
Facebook logo @NASAHubble @NASAHubble Instagram logo @NASAHubble Facebook logo @NASAWebb @NASAWebb Instagram logo @NASAWebb Media Contacts:
Claire Andreoli (claire.andreoli@nasa.gov), Laura Betz (laura.e.betz@nasa.gov)
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Ray Villard, Christine Pulliam
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD
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Last Updated Nov 01, 2024 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
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Hubble Focus: Strange New Worlds
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope team has released a new edition in the Hubble Focus e-book series, called “Hubble Focus: Strange…
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By NASA
The NASA Ames Science Directorate recognizes the outstanding contributions of (pictured left to right) America Reyes Wang, Sepideh Khajehei, Julie Nottage, and Ryan Felton. Their commitment to the NASA mission represents the talent, camaraderie, and vision needed to explore this world and beyond.
Space Biosciences Star: America Reyes Wang
America Reyes Wang serves as the Space Biology Biospecimen Sharing Program (BSP) Lead in the Space Biosciences Research Branch, where she guides a team of support scientists and a logistics coordinator in planning and performing detailed, collaborative dissections to maximize the scientific return from biological investigations. Under her leadership, the BSP team has contributed over 5,000 samples to the NASA Biological Institutional Scientific Collection (NBISC), approximately half of which were collected in the last 10 months.
Earth Science Star: Sepideh Khajehei
Sepideh Khajehei is a NASA Earth eXchange (NEX) Data and Research Scientist in the Biospheric Science Branch, for the Bay Area Environmental Research Institute. She is recognized for her dedicated support of the NASA Administrator’s Earth Information Center, and recently for her outstanding support for an urgent request to revise climate indices just days before the October 7, 2024, opening of NASA’s Hometown Climate Dashboard at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.
Space Science & Astrobiology Star: Julie Nottage
Julie Nottage continuously goes above and beyond in her role as the Space and Earth Sciences Facilities Service Manager. She keeps a multi-use interdisciplinary science building running across all aspects of operations and is the go-to person for any problem. Her can-do approach and wealth of knowledge ensures the facility’s high-quality operation that enables scientists and engineers to focus on their research and instrument work. Her quality work and extensive coordination of the Voluntary Protection Program allowed these month-long inspections to run smoothly with an improved safety outcome.
Space Science & Astrobiology Star: Ryan Felton
Ryan Felton, a NASA Postdoctoral Management Fellow with the Exobiology Branch, is recognized for his successful coordination of an engaging community-wide seminar series focused on Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML). This seminar series featured four speakers so far over six months on a variety of exciting topics to advance AI/ML knowledge and use in the branch’s research.
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By NASA
3 min read
NASA Selects Two Teams to Advance Life Sciences Research in Space
NASA announced two awards Thursday to establish scientific consortia – multi-institutional coalitions to conduct ground-based studies that help address the agency’s goals of maintaining a sustained human presence in space. These consortia will focus on biological systems research in the areas of animal and human models, plants, and microbiology. When fully implemented, the awards for these consortia will total about $5 million.
Space biology efforts at NASA use the unique environment of space to conduct experiments impossible to do on Earth. Such research not only supports the health and welfare of astronauts, but results in breakthroughs on diseases such as cancer and neurodegenerative disorders to help protect humanity down on the ground.
The awards for the two consortia are for the following areas:
Studying space biosphere. The Biology in Space: Establishing Networks for DUrable & REsilient Systems consortium involves a collaborative effort between human/animal, plant, and microbial biologists to ensure an integrated view of the space flight biosphere by enhancing data acquisition, modeling, and testing. It will include participation of more than thirty scientists and professionals working together from at least three institutions. Led by Kristi Morgansen at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. Converting human waste into materials for in-space biomanufacturing. The Integrative Anaerobic Digestion and Phototrophic Biosystem for Sustainable Space Habitats and Life Supports consortium will develop an anaerobic digestion process that converts human waste into organic acids and materials that can be used for downstream biomanufacturing applications in space. It will include eight scientists from six different institutions in three different states, including Delaware and Florida. The consortium is led by Yinjie Tang at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Proposals for these consortia were submitted in response to ROSES 2024 Program Element E.11 Consortium in Biological Sciences for a consortium with biological sciences expertise to carry out research investigations and conduct activities that address NASA’s established interests in space life sciences.
NASA’s Space Biology Program within the agency’s Biological and Physical Sciences division conducts research across a wide spectrum of biological organization and model systems to probe underlying mechanisms by which organisms acclimate to stressors encountered during space exploration (including microgravity, ionizing radiation, and elevated concentrations of carbon dioxide). This research informs how biological systems regulate and sustain growth, metabolism, reproduction, and development in space and how they repair damage and protect themselves from infection and disease.
For more information about NASA’s fundamental space-based research, visit https://science.nasa.gov/biological-physical
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Last Updated Oct 17, 2024 Contact NASA Science Editorial Team Location NASA Headquarters Related Terms
Biological & Physical Sciences For Researchers Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES) Science & Research View the full article
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