Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Astromineralogy

Dust in another solar system

A star surrounded by a disk of dust could be a solar system in the making. Analysis of radiation from the dust suggests that there might be belts of comets or asteroids, and even a planet, orbiting the star.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Rings around β Pictoris.

References

  1. Okamoto, Y. K. et al. Nature 431, 660–663 (2004).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Lecavelier des Etangs, A. et al. Nature 412, 706–708 (2001).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Artymowicz, P. Astrophys. J. 335, L79–L82 (1988).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Mukai, T. & Giese, R. H. Astron. Astrophys. 131, 355–363 (1984).

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Zuckerman, B., Song, I., Bessell, M. S. & Webb, R. A. Astrophys. J. 562, L87–L90 (2001).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. Molster, F. J. & Waters, L. B. F. M. in Astromineralogy (Lecture Notes in Physics no. 609) (ed. Henning, T. K.) 121–170 (Springer, Berlin, 2003).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  7. Wahhaj, Z. et al. Astrophys. J. 584, L27–L31 (2003).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Weinberger, A. J., Becklin, E. E. & Zuckerman, B. Astrophys. J. 584, L33–L37 (2003).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Hallenbeck, S. L., Nuth, J. A. III & Nelson, R. N. Astrophys. J. 535, 247–255 (2000).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Li, A. & Greenberg, M. Astron. Astrophys. 331, 291–313 (1998).

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. Wooden, D. et al. Astrophys. J. 517, 1034–1058 (1999).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Desch, S. Dust in another solar system. Nature 431, 636–637 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/431636a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/431636a

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing