![[LEFT] The MIRI F2100W observation of the HD 107146 system, shown in logarithmic scaling with the corresponding intensity levels indicated in the colorbar. [RIGHT] Contours from the ALMA observations obtained within the ARKS program (S. Marino et al. 2026), overlaid on the combined F182M and F210M JWST/NIRCam observations for HD 107146. -- [astro-ph.SR]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/The-JWSTNIRCam.png?fit=1200%2C677&ssl=1)
[astro-ph.SR]. Debris disks, composed of rocks, boulders, planetesimals, and the dust produced in their collisions, present the most readily observable components of mature planetary systems.
They also serve as valuable diagnostic tools, enabling studies of planetary dynamical interactions and mineral compositions. Observed from optical to radio wavelengths, each band reveals unique information about the dust populations. Optical and near-infrared observations are specifically sensitive to light scattered off the surfaces of the micron-sized particles.
Here, we present results from the JWST/NIRCam GTO program 2780, designed to observe five disk systems previously identified to be exceptionally bright at optical wavelengths (HD 10647, HD 32297, HD 61005, HD 107146, and HD 181327) with six filters using the NIRCam coronagraphs. The NIRCam data complement previous shorter-wavelength images of these same systems.
They reveal scattered light from the disks and from the extended halos of tiny grains under the influence of radiative forces, at high resolution and signal to noise. All the systems show evidence for water ice, although it can have differing radial distributions and tends to show stronger signatures in the halos.
In the two cases we could analyze, the scattering phase function in the disks resembles the behavior of dust in the Solar System with evidence for enhanced forward scattering in the halos, consistent with the latter being composed of tiny grains.
MIRI images for two systems are more centrally concentrated than the shorter wavelength ones, suggesting a role for dragged-in larger grains.
András Gáspár, Jarron M. Leisenring, Schuyler Grace Wolff, Kellen Lawson, George H. Rieke, Dingshan Deng, Marcia J. Rieke, Antranik A. Sefilian, Charles Beichman, Joshua B. Lovell, John Krist, Marie Ygouf, Jorge Llop-Sayson, Geoffrey Bryden, Christopher C. Stark, Christine H. Chen
Comments: 52 pages, 42 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ
Subjects: Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR); Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)
Cite as: arXiv:2608.27437 [astro-ph.SR] (or arXiv:2608.27437v1 [astro-ph.SR] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2608.27437
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Related DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ae9d6f
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Submission history
From: Andras Gaspar
[v1] Thu, 27 Aug 2026 17:55:03 UTC (19,566 KB)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.27437
Astrobiology
