Fomalhaut Ring

18 May, 2017 / Read time: 1 minute

An international team of astronomers, using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) data, has made the first complete millimeter-wavelength image of the ring of dusty debris surrounding the young star Fomalhaut. This remarkably well-defined band of rubble and gas is likely the result of exocomets smashing together near the outer edges of a planetary system 25 light-years from Earth.

Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO); NRAO/AUI/NSF; M. MacGregor; NASA/ESA Hubble, P. Kalas; B. Saxton (NRAO/AUI/NSF)
Music: Getty Images