Astronomers image debris disk of billion-year-old Sun-like star; observations take surprise turn

Astronomers, using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observatory in Chile, have imaged the debris disk of HD 53143, a roughly billion-year-old Sun-like star located 59.8 light-years from Earth in the Carina constellation, at millimeter wavelengths for the first time.

The radio images of the nearby star system shed new light on the early development of Sun-like systems.

The star, which was first observed with the Hubble Space Telescope in 2006, is surrounded by a debris disk that scientists previously believed to be a face-on ring similar to the debris disk surrounding our Sun, better known as the Kuiper Belt. 

The new observations have revealed that the star system's debris disk is highly complicated and eccentric. This level of eccentricity makes HD 53143 the most eccentric debris disk observed to date, said Meredith MacGregor, an assistant professor at the Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy (CASA) and Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences (APS) at CU Boulder, and the lead author on the study.

According to the researchers, in ring-shaped debris disks, the star is typically located at or near the center of the disk whereas, in elliptically-shaped eccentric disks, the star resides at one focus of the ellipse, far away from the disk's center. Similar is the case with the HD 53143 star system, which may also be harbouring a second disk and at least one planet.

"Until now, scientists had never seen a debris disk with such a complicated structure. In addition to being an ellipse with a star at one focus, it also likely has a second inner disk that is misaligned or tilted relative to the outer disk," said MacGregor.

The findings will be published in an upcoming edition of The Astrophysical Journal Letters (ApJL).

📡First radio images of HD 53143, a roughly billion-year-old Sun-like star, shed new light on the early development of Sun-like systems. 📷2: white and blue by @NASAHubble @HUBBLE_space , red and orange by ALMA📡⬇️https://t.co/yeGDU6qAKb pic.twitter.com/YQXcF8mziq

— ALMA Observatory📡 (@almaobs) June 14, 2022