9 May 2023

James Webb Telescope finds a new asteroid belt

From Morning Report, 7:53 am on 9 May 2023

New high resolution images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope show a newly discovered asteroid belt in a star system that sits about 25 light years from earth.

Scientists used the telescope to focus on the debris disc around Fomalhaut, a 440 million year old star.

The images were so detailed they've found asteroid belts similar to those in our own solar system, and suggest a hidden planet could be lurking near the asteroids.

This image of the dusty debris disk surrounding the young star Fomalhaut is from Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). It reveals three nested belts extending out to 14 billion miles (23 billion kilometers) from the star. The inner belts were revealed by Webb for the first time.

Photo: NASA, ESA, CSA, A. Gáspár (University of Arizona). Image processing: A. Pagan (STScI)

András Gáspár from the University of Arizona, Tuscon, spoke to Corin Dann.