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Collection:
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NASA Spitzer Space Telescope Collection
Collection
NASA Spitzer Space Telescope Collection
Collection
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Title:
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Sunset on an Alien World
Title
Sunset on an Alien World
Title
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Description:
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This artist's animation illustrates what the night sky might look like from a hypothetical alien planet in a star system with an asteroid belt 25 times as massive as the one in our own solar system.
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope found evidence for such a belt around the nearby star called HD 69830, when its infrared eyes spotted dust, presumably from asteroids banging together. The telescope did not find any evidence for a planet in the system, but astronomers speculate one or more may be present.
The movie begins at dusk on the imaginary world, when HD 69830, like our Sun, has begun to set over the horizon. Time is sped up to show the onset of night and the appearance of a brilliant band of light. This light comes from dust in a massive asteroid belt, which scatters sunlight.
In our solar system, anybody observing the skies on a moonless night far from city lights can see this light. Called zodiacal light and sometimes the "false dawn," it appears as a faint band stretching up from the horizon when the Sun is about to rise or set.
The zodiacal light in the HD 69830 system would be 1,000 times brighter than our own, outshining even the disk of our Milky Way galaxy (shown perpendicular to the asteroid-belt light).
Description
This artist's animation illustrates what the night sky might look like from a hypothetical alien planet in a star system with an asteroid belt 25 times as massive as the one in our own solar system.
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope found evidence for such a belt around the nearby star called HD 69830, when its infrared eyes spotted dust, presumably from asteroids banging together. The telescope did not find any evidence for a planet in the system, but astronomers speculate one or more may be present.
The movie begins at dusk on the imaginary world, when HD 69830, like our Sun, has begun to set over the horizon. Time is sped up to show the onset of night and the appearance of a brilliant band of light. This light comes from dust in a massive asteroid belt, which scatters sunlight.
In our solar system, anybody observing the skies on a moonless night far from city lights can see this light. Called zodiacal light and sometimes the "false dawn," it appears as a faint band stretching up from the horizon when the Sun is about to rise or set.
The zodiacal light in the HD 69830 system would be 1,000 times brighter than our own, outshining even the disk of our Milky Way galaxy (shown perpendicular to the asteroid-belt light).
Description
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Press Release:
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Press_Release
Press Release
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Release Credit:
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NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (SSC)
Release_Credit
NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (SSC)
Release Credit
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Object name:
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HD 69830
Object_name
HD 69830
Object name
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Object type:
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K0V star (about 2 billion years old)
Object_type
K0V star (about 2 billion years old)
Object type
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Journal Article:
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An Excess Due to Small Grains Around the Nearby K0V Star HD69830: Asteroid or Comet Debris? [ http://www.spitzer.…]
Journal_Article
An Excess Due to Small Grains Around the Nearby K0V Star HD69830: Asteroid or Comet Debris? [ http://www.spitzer.…] Journal Article
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Related links:
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Related_links
Related links
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facet_what:
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Spitzer Space Telescope
facet_what
Spitzer Space Telescope
facet_what
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facet_what:
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Sun
facet_what
Sun
facet_what
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facet_what:
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Dawn
facet_what
Dawn
facet_what
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facet_where:
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Milky Way Galaxy
facet_where
Milky Way Galaxy
facet_where
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facet_where:
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Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
facet_where
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
facet_where
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facet_where:
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Stennis Space Center (SSC)
facet_where
Stennis Space Center (SSC)
facet_where
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Image #:
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ssc2005-10v2
Image_#
ssc2005-10v2
Image #
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original url:
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original_url
original url
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UID:
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SPD-SPITZ-ssc2005-10 v2
UID
SPD-SPITZ-ssc2005-10 v2
UID
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