exozodiacal dust Archives

Simulated ablation heights of IDPs in exoplanet atmospheres. Our fiducial simulation is marked in red. Solid and dashed curves signify IDP compositions of MgSiO3 and Fe, respectively. The black dashed curve on the left most panel shows the approximation of the mass injection function Fv(p) for an arbitrary IDP mass flux for comparison with the ablation profiles. -- [astro-ph.EP]

Interplanetary Dust Ablation Seeds Silicate Clouds in Exoplanet Atmospheres

by Keith CowingSeptember 10, 2026September 10, 2026

[astro-ph.EP] Interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) are present throughout the Solar System, with Earth experiencing a mass flux of roughly 100 tonnes of IDPs per day.

An example of synthetic HWO Earth spectra at 10 pc generated with pyEDITH (upper) and the corresponding S/N values for each wavelength bin (lower).

Astronomy & Telescopes

The Exozodi Spectral Effect: Residual Habitable Zone Dust May Bias ExoEarth Characterization

by Keith CowingJuly 18, 2026July 18, 2026

[astro-ph.EP] All exoplanetary systems are expected to host exozodiacal dust, or exozodi, originating from planetesimals. For many stars, exozodi will likely be the largest source of astrophysical noise in direct […]

Exozodiacal dust, depicted in this artist's illustration as a glowing white haze above the horizon of a hypothetical habitable planet orbiting another star, was found to exist in such large quantities in the Kappa Tucanae star system that it has astronomers puzzled over its origin. -- ESO/L. Calçada

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Press Release, Stellar Cartography

Newly Discovered Star Opens A Laboratory For Solving A Cosmic Dust Mystery

by Keith CowingDecember 2, 2025December 2, 2025

Seventy light-years from Earth, a star called Kappa Tucanae A harbors one of astronomy’s most perplexing mysteries: dust so hot it glows at more than 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit, existing impossibly […]

Flux with central regions masked (10 µm; upper row), and corresponding asymmetric flux relative to the planet flux Fp (lower row), following the format of Fig. 6. This masking emphasizes resonant structures, and all maps are shown within a spatial scale of ∼ 2 ap. Asymmetric flux panels follow the approach of Fig. 11 in Defrère et al. (2010).-- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Status Report

Resonant Structures In Exozodiacal Clouds Created By Exo-Earths In The Habitable Zone Of Late-type Stars

by Keith CowingNovember 26, 2025November 26, 2025

Earth-like exoplanets can create resonant structures in exozodiacal dust through mean motion resonances (MMRs).

JWST’s view of the α Cen AB system. Shown above is a background-subtracted Stage 2b F1550C image of the α Cen AB system from August 2024. The image is oriented North up and East left. The white stars denote the approximate positions of α Cen B, saturated near the top of the image, and α Cen A in the lower part of the image hidden behind the F1550C mask. The right colorbar (logarithmically scaled) is associated with this image. At the edge of the detector, to the West of α Cen A, is a known background source KS5 (Kervella et al. 2016). To the East of α Cen A is known background source KS2 (Kervella et al. 2016), shown as an inset, as it is only detected after performing PSF subtraction (no colorbar shown for the inset, scaled linearly between −5 and 50 MJy/sr). An ≈2. ′′75 radius region around α Cen A is shaded and mapped to three PSF-subtracted images, one for each observation epoch. Candidate S1 is seen only in August 2024. The bottom colorbar (linearly scaled) is associated with the three PSF-subtracted images. For reference, 1 MJy/sr ≈ 4.6 × 10−6 Jy/AiryCore, where AiryCore is defined as the area of a circular aperture of diameter 1 FWHM (≈ 0. ′′5). -- astro-ph.EP

Alpha Centauri, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

Worlds Next Door: A Candidate Giant Planet Imaged in the Habitable Zone of α Cen A. I. Observations, Orbital and Physical Properties, and Exozodi Upper Limits

by Keith CowingAugust 7, 2025August 7, 2025

We report on coronagraphic observations of the nearest solar-type star, α Cen A, using the MIRI instrument on the James Webb Space Telescope.

Joint PCA-KLIP subtraction of distinct subsets of the α Cen AB science integrations from the August 2024 observations. -- astro-ph.SR

Alpha Centauri, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release

Worlds Next Door: A Candidate Giant Planet Imaged in the Habitable Zone of α Cen A. II. Binary II. Binary Star Modeling, Planet and Exozodi Search, and Sensitivity Analysis

by Keith CowingAugust 7, 2025September 18, 2025

JWST observed our closest solar twin, α Cen A, with the MIRI coronagraph in F1550C (15.5 μm) at three distinct epochs between August 2024 and April 2025.

β-curves for amorphous carbon (‘C’, green lines, Kimura & Mann 1999), astronomical silicates (“SiO”, solid gold line, Gustafson 1994; and blue lines, Kimura & Mann 1999), and adapted astronomical silicates (“ad. SiO”) with an assumed dust density of ρd = 2500 kg/m3 (thick dashed maroon line; Sterken et al. 2012a). The β-curves of Kimura & Mann (1999) have porosities, p, ranging from 0% (compact particles) to 93% (fluffy particles), indicated by different line styles. (After Sterken et al. 2015, Fig. 2.) -- Astronomy & Astrophysics

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Comets and Asteroids, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Missions & Hardware, Status Report

Interstellar Dust Measured In Situ by Ulysses

by Keith CowingJuly 2, 2025July 2, 2025

Impacts of interstellar dust (ISD) grains on the Ulysses spacecraft allowed for the first successful in situ measurement of ISD (Grün et al. 1993).

F1550C image of α Cen AB. α Cen B is saturated near the top and α Cen A is behind the F1550C mask near the center. Two known background stars are labeled (KS2 inset, detected after PSF subtraction; and KS5). The (right) colorbar (for the Stage 2b image) is logarithmically scaled in MJy/sr. A ≈ 35 radius region around α Cen A is expanded. (a) The original α Cen AB PSF-subtracted image. Dashed lines indicate the FQPM boundaries. A likely artifact is boxed. (b) An identical reduction after injecting STPSF planet models (circled). (c) An identical reduction after injecting an exozodiacal disk model (boxed). The (bottom) colorbar (for the reduced images and KS2) is linearly scaled in MJy/sr. -- Research Notes of the AAS

Alpha Centauri, Astronomy & Telescopes, Exploration Gear & Tech, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release

A Preliminary Search For Planets and Exozodiacal Emission Around Alpha Centauri A with JWST/MIRI

by Keith CowingMay 26, 2025May 26, 2025

We present F1550C (15.5 μm) coronagraphic imaging observations of the nearest solar-type star α Cen A using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI).

Sketch illustrating the distinction between hot and warm (HZ) exozodiacal dust and cold dust, as well as their location relative to other components of planetary systems. The Solar system is used as an approximate template, though the exact amount of hot dust in the Solar system is poorly known. Broad, gray rings represent dusty regions, while dotted, black rings represent belts of minor bodies (asteroids, Kuiper-belt objects). Possible planets and their orbits (thin black lines) similar to those in the Solar system are also shown. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

Review And Prospects Of Hot Exozodiacal Dust Research For Future Exo-Earth Direct Imaging Missions

by Keith CowingApril 2, 2025April 2, 2025

Hot exozodiacal dust is dust in the innermost regions of planetary systems, at temperatures around 1000K to 2000K, and commonly detected by near-infrared interferometry.

This photo shows the zodiacal light as it appeared on March 1, 2021, in Skull Valley, Utah. The Pleiades star cluster is visible near the top of the light column. Mars is just below that. NASA/Bill Dunford

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Status Report

Exozodiacal Dust As A Limitation To Exoplanet Imaging And Spectroscopy – NASA-DARES White Paper

by Keith CowingMarch 24, 2025January 14, 2026

In addition to planets and other small bodies, stellar systems will likely also host exozodiacal dust, or exozodi.

exozodiacal dust

Interplanetary Dust Ablation Seeds Silicate Clouds in Exoplanet Atmospheres

The Exozodi Spectral Effect: Residual Habitable Zone Dust May Bias ExoEarth Characterization

Newly Discovered Star Opens A Laboratory For Solving A Cosmic Dust Mystery

Resonant Structures In Exozodiacal Clouds Created By Exo-Earths In The Habitable Zone Of Late-type Stars

Worlds Next Door: A Candidate Giant Planet Imaged in the Habitable Zone of α Cen A. I. Observations, Orbital and Physical Properties, and Exozodi Upper Limits

Worlds Next Door: A Candidate Giant Planet Imaged in the Habitable Zone of α Cen A. II. Binary II. Binary Star Modeling, Planet and Exozodi Search, and Sensitivity Analysis

Interstellar Dust Measured In Situ by Ulysses

A Preliminary Search For Planets and Exozodiacal Emission Around Alpha Centauri A with JWST/MIRI

Review And Prospects Of Hot Exozodiacal Dust Research For Future Exo-Earth Direct Imaging Missions

Exozodiacal Dust As A Limitation To Exoplanet Imaging And Spectroscopy – NASA-DARES White Paper

Baruch Blumberg Grants in Astrobiology (formerly Lewis and Clark Fund for Field Research and Exploration in Astrobiology)

NASA’s Science Mission Directorate Seeks Volunteer Reviewers

Thermal Evolution of Lava Planets Across System Ages: Predictions for Hell of a Survey

Thioacetaldehyde (CH3CHS) On Interstellar Ices: A Key Molecule To Unravel Two Chemical Dichotomies In The ISM

Interstellar Disparity: N- vs O-bearing Molecules: A Multidisciplinary Perspective across Interstellar Environments