Tucson Standard

Astronomers have gained unprecedented insight into the debris disk surrounding the star Vega, thanks to observations made by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and James Webb Space Telescope. This new research aligns with a depiction in the 1997 movie "Contact," where scientist Ellie Arroway encounters a debris storm around Vega.

The team of astronomers from the University of Arizona used these telescopes to examine the nearly 100-billion-mile-diameter disk encircling Vega, located in the constellation Lyra. Andras Gáspár, an associate research professor at the U of A Steward Observatory, noted that "between the Hubble and Webb telescopes, you get this very clear view of Vega." He described it as a "mysterious system" due to its smoothness compared to other circumstellar disks.

A surprising discovery was the lack of evidence for large planets within the disk. Kate Su, who led the paper on findings from the James Webb Space Telescope, remarked that this absence is causing researchers to rethink exoplanet systems' diversity.

The images captured by Hubble and Webb show different aspects of Vega's disk. The Hubble telescope detects reflected light from smoke-sized dust particles, while Webb captures infrared glow from sand-sized particles. Schuyler Wolff, lead author of a paper on Hubble's findings, explained that "different types of physics will locate different-sized particles at different locations."

These observations are helping scientists understand planetary systems better, even when planets are not directly visible. Su stated that they are learning about planetary systems through these detailed observations and how they relate to planet formation models.

Vega's debris disk is maintained by collisions among asteroids and comets, similar to processes in our solar system. However, Wolff pointed out that "Vega continues to be unusual," as its system architecture differs significantly from our own solar system.

George Rieke, Regents' Professor of Astronomy and Planetary Sciences, emphasized that these combined observations offer new insights into Vega's system architecture. The James Webb Space Telescope project is an international collaboration involving NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). Similarly, Hubble is a joint effort between NASA and ESA.