Dusty disks
Clear image of dust disk around HR 4796
- star ~ 107 y old
- Infrared excess detected by IRAS satellite
- dust surrounding star, heated by starlight
- image at 20,000 nm clearly shows disk-shaped structure
- Star is bright spot at center
- Image was on front page of Newsweek ‘98
- Low temperature, ~100 K, indicates material is only found far from the star
- Inner disk “cleared out”
- Could be result of inner planets
- Higher resolution Hubble image in scattered light
- Shows disk is really a ring -- much like Saturn’s ring
- Inner region cleared out -- evidence for planets there
Gap in disk around star HD 141569