Artist's impression of HD 53143's eccentric debris disk

Artist's impression of the billion-year-old Sun-like star, HD 53143, and its highly eccentric debris disk. The star and a second inner disk are shown near the southern foci of the elliptical debris disk. A planet, which scientists assume is shaping the disk through gravitational force, is shown to the north. Debris disks are the fossils of planetary formation. Since we can't directly study our disk— also known as the Kuiper Belt— scientists glean information about the formation of our Solar System by studying those we can see from a distance. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO); M. Weiss (NRAO/AUI/NSF)