HUBBLE REVEALS TWO DUST DISKS AROUND NEARBY STAR (STScI-PR06-25)

FOR RELEASE: 1:00 pm (EDT) June 27, 2006

Erica Hupp/Dwayne Brown
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1237/1726

Donna Weaver
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
410-338-4493

David Golimowski
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md.
(Phone: 410-516-6181; E-mail: )

PRESS RELEASE NO.: STScI-PR06-25

HUBBLE REVEALS TWO DUST DISKS AROUND NEARBY STAR

Detailed images of the nearby star Beta Pictoris, taken by NASA's Hubble
Space Telescope, confirm the existence of not one but two dust disks
encircling the star. The images offer tantalizing new evidence for at
least one Jupiter-size planet orbiting Beta Pictoris. The finding ends a
decade of speculation that an odd warp in the young star's debris disk
may actually be another inclined disk. The recent Hubble Advanced Camera
for Surveys view – the best visible-light image of Beta Pictoris –
clearly shows a distinct secondary disk that is tilted by about 4
degrees from the main disk. The secondary disk is visible out to roughly
24 billion miles from the star, and probably extends even farther, said
astronomers. This Hubble image of Beta Pictoris clearly shows a primary
dust disk and a much fainter secondary dust disk. Astronomers used the
Advanced Camera’s coronagraph to block out the light from the bright
star.



To see and read more about Beta Pictoris on the Web, visit:

http://hubblesite.org/news/2006/25

The Hubble Space Telescope is an international cooperative project
between NASA and the European Space Agency. The Space Telescope Science
Institute is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for
Research in Astronomy, Inc., Washington.

-end-

You are receiving this e-mail because you are subscribed to the
notifications whenever there is a new Hubble Space Telescope image,
product, or news update. If you would like to unsubscribe or change your
e-mail preferences, please go to:
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/hub...box_astronomy/