the.com/debris disks
the leftover crumbs from planet-building, still orbiting the crumb table.
means a disk of dust, rock, and ice around a star, made from collisions between planetesimals rather than the original gas cloud.
from first inferred in 1983 when IRAS spotted excess infrared glow around vega, later resolved directly around beta pictoris in 1984, proving stars keep messy leftovers long after birth.
vega phenomenonthe original nickname before beta pictoris confirmed it
collisional cascadebig rocks smash into smaller rocks, forever
kuiper belt kinour own solar system has one, faint
jwst favoritereveals rings, gaps, and hidden shepherd planets