Free Astronomy Magazine January-February 2025

20 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2025 ASTRO PUBLISHING A surprisingly smooth disk around Vega A Hubble Space Telescope false- color view of a 100-billion- mile-wide disk of dust around the summer star Vega. Hubble detects reflected light from dust that is the size of smoke particles largely in a halo on the periphery of the disk. The disk is very smooth, with no ev- idence of embedded large planets. The black spot at the center blocks out the bright glow of the hot young star. [NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, S. Wolff (University of Arizona), K. Su (University of Arizona), A. Gáspár (University of Arizona)] by NASA/ESA/CSA Ray Villard Christine Pulliam I n the 1997 movie Contact , adapted from Carl Sagan’s 1985 novel, the lead character scientist Ellie Ar- roway (played by actor Jodi Foster) takes a space-alien-built wormhole ride to the star Vega. She emerges inside a snowstorm of debris encir- cling the star – but no obvious plan- ets are visible. It looks like the film- makers got it right. A team of astronomers at the Uni- versity of Arizona, Tucson used NASA’s Hubble and James Webb space telescopes for an unprece- dented in-depth look at the nearly 100-billion-mile-diameter debris disk encircling Vega. “Between the Hubble and Webb telescopes, you get this very clear view of Vega. It’s a mysterious system because it’s un-