Fomalhaut ice ring. Composite image showing the unusual icy ring (pink) that surrounds the star Fomalhaut (bright, centre). Fomalhaut lies around 25 light-years from Earth in the constellation Piscis Austrinus (The Southern Fish) and is surrounded by a huge disc of dust. However, it is also surround by this outer ring, first discovered about 20 years ago, that has an unusually sharp inner boundary. A leading theory holds that this ring resulted from numerous violent collisions involving icy comets. Imaged by combing images from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST, blue) and the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA, pink). | |
Licence : | Droits gérés |
Crédit: | Science Photo Library / EUROPEAN SOUTHERN OBSERVATORY |
Taille de l’image : | 2400 px × 3710 px |
Model Release : | Non requis |
Property Release : | Non requis |
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