Astronomy Picture of the Day 10-11-02

NASA ^ | 10-11-02 | Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell

[petuniasevan]

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2002 October 11

Fomalhaut Dust Disk Indicates Planets
Drawing Credit: David A. Hardy, ROE, ATC, NSF, NASA

Explanation: One of the brightest stars on the sky likely has planets. Fomalhaut, actually the 17th brightest star in the night sky, is a mere 22 light-years away but only a fraction of the age of our Sun. Recent observations in far infrared light with a detector cooled to near zero kelvins indicate a dust disk surrounding Fomalhaut that has both a hole in the center and a warped edge. Now the hole in the center indicates that dust has fallen onto interior planets -- possibly like the Earth -- while the warp at the edge indicates the gravitational pull of a planet like Jupiter or Saturn. The discovery image was taken with the SCUBA instrument through the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii, USA. The above illustration shows what the Fomalhaut dusty planetary system might look like from near the large planet.

[petuniasevan]

Here's that "discovery image" which shows what the Submillimeter Common User Bolometer Array detected.

Astronomy Fun Fact:

Fomalhaut is easy to find! No other bright star is nearby. It's in the southern sky in autumn. Though white it may appear yellowish due to low viewing angle. It's visible between latitudes 50 and -90 degrees and is best seen in October (at 9:00 PM). Look southeast.

[petuniasevan]

Sorry I'm so late getting today's APOD out. Lots of other things had to be done.

[petuniasevan]

Here's a great thread on ANOTHER new astronomical discovery!

Scientists Worldwide Race To Observe Fading Gamma-Ray Burst

[sistergoldenhair]

Wow; great one.
Thanks for all your hard work on APOD.
I always learn something new.

[fnord]

weekend bump

I always appreciate the APOD post, even if I don't always comment on it. Thanks ...

[RightWhale]

This one was a topic on Art Bell last night. They were quoting some astronomers as saying that this discovery indicates the possibility of earth-like planets at other stars. I think it's a stretch, an extrapolation of the data. There have been about 100 extrasolar planets found so far, but all these are at the limits of detection. An instrument capable of finding earthlike planets is being built by NASA and should be in position in space to make its observations by 2010 or so. Until then, planet detection is by indirect means, relying on interpretation of limited data according to various models.