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Webb looks for Fomalhaut’s asteroid belt and finds much more


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Astronomers used the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to image the warm dust around a nearby young star, Fomalhaut, in order to study the first asteroid belt ever seen outside of our Solar System in infrared light. But to their surprise, they found that the dusty structures are much more complex than the asteroid and Kuiper dust belts of our Solar System. 

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      Download this image

      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.
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      Download this image

      “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.”
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      Download this image

      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.
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      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)
      NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
      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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      View/Download all image products at all resolutions for this article from the Space Telescope Science Institute.
      Media Contacts
      Laura Betz – laura.e.betz@nasa.gov, Claire Andreoli – claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
      NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
      Claire Blome – cblome@stsci.edu, Christine Pulliam – cpulliam@stsci.edu
      Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
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      To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
      NASA’s Perseverance drives first backward then forward as it negotiates some slippery terrain found along a route up to the rim of Jezero Crater on Oct. 15. The Mars rover used one of its navigation cameras to capture the 31 images that make up this short video.NASA/JPL-Caltech Data from those efforts showed that while all three approaches enhanced traction, sticking close to the slope’s northern edge proved the most beneficial. The rover planners believe the presence of larger rocks closer to the surface made the difference.
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      Tube Status
      In a few weeks, Perseverance is expected to crest the crater rim at a location the science team calls “Lookout Hill.” From there, it will drive about another quarter-mile (450 meters) to “Witch Hazel Hill.” Orbital data shows that Witch Hazel Hill contains light-toned, layered bedrock. The team is looking forward to comparing this new site to “Bright Angel,” the area where Perseverance recently discovered and sampled the “Cheyava Falls” rock.
      Tracks shown in this image indicate the slipperiness of the terrain Perseverance has encountered during its climb up the rim of Jezero Crater. The image was taken by one of rover’s navigation cameras on Oct. 11. NASA/JPL-Caltech The rover landed on Mars carrying 43 tubes for collecting samples from the Martian surface. So far, Perseverance has sealed and cached 24 samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and dust), plus one atmospheric sample and three witness tubes. Early in the mission’s development, NASA set the requirement for the rover to be capable of caching at least 31 samples of rock, regolith, and witness tubes over the course of Perseverance’s mission at Jezero. The project added 12 tubes, bringing the total to 43. The extras were included in anticipation of the challenging conditions found at Mars that could result in some tubes not functioning as designed.
      NASA decidedto retire two of the spare empty tubes because accessing them would pose a risk to the rover’s small internal robotic sample-handling arm needed for the task: A wire harness connected to the arm could catch on a fastener on the rover’s frame when reaching for the two empty sample tubes. 
      With those spares now retired, Perseverance currently has 11 empty tubes for sampling rock and two empty witness tubes.
      More About Perseverance
      A key objective of Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including caching samples that may contain signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, to help pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet and as the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith.
      NASA’s Mars Sample Return Program, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), is designed to send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.
      The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.
      NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed for the agency by Caltech, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.
      For more about Perseverance:
      https://science.nasa.gov/mission/mars-2020-perseverance
      News Media Contacts
      Karen Fox / Molly Wasser
      NASA Headquarters, Washington
      202-358-1600
      karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov
      DC Agle
      Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
      818-393-9011
      agle@jpl.nasa.gov
      2024-144
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      Last Updated Oct 28, 2024 Related Terms
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