Sentences with phrase «debris ring»
A "debris ring" refers to a collection of small rocks, dust, and other bits of material that orbit around a planet, moon, or other celestial body. These pieces are usually left over from collisions or breaks in larger celestial objects and can pose a danger to spacecraft or satellites if they are present in large quantities. Full definition
The sight of an asteroid being ripped apart by a dead star and forming a glowing debris ring has been captured in an image for the first time.
sciencedaily.com
Now, such debris rings are thought to be common around stars.
The scientists also found a smaller, secondary debris ring or dust halo orbiting the star beyond the primary ring.
While debris rings have been found at a handful of other white dwarfs, the imaging of SDSS1228 +1040 gives an unprecedented insight into the structure of these systems.
Image of HD 115600 showing a bright debris ring viewed nearly edge - on and located just beyond a Pluto - like distance to the star.
Right: A model of the HD 115600 debris ring on the same scale.
The proportion could be even greater than 20 per cent, as some planetary systems might be entirely destroyed and leave no trace rather than leaving behind a debris ring to pollute their parent star.
«The diameter of the gap inside of the debris ring is 700,000 kilometres, approximately half the size of the Sun and the same space could fit both Saturn and its rings, which are only around 270,000 km across.
Mittal said it's not clear whether the dust and debris rings would be visible from earth, since dust does not reflect much sunlight, whereas ice in the rings of the outer planets makes them easily visible.
The space exploration tool located in the desolate Chilean desert examined the debris ring around the star, searching for signs of — and finding — gas signatures around HD 181327.