March 7, 2014

Image Caption: This artist's concept illustrates the preferred model for explaining ALMA observations of Beta Pictoris. At the outer fringes of the system, the gravitational influence of a hypothetical giant planet (bottom left) captures comets into a dense, massive swarm (right) where frequent collisions occur. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/F. Reddy

[ Watch the Video: Colliding Comets Hint At Unseen Exoplanet ]

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online

NASA scientists have found evidence of a highly-turbulent comet field circling a star 63 light years from Earth. This cosmic shooting gallery has produced a massive ring of carbon monoxide gas and dust that also encircles the star, according to a new report published in the journal Science.

According to the report authors, the comet field is probably the result of either two icy worlds the size of Mars crashing together or frozen debris trapped by a currently-undiscovered planet.

Although toxic to us, carbon monoxide is one of many gases found in comets and other icy bodies, said study author Aki Roberge, an astrophysicist at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. In the rough-and-tumble environment around a young star, these objects frequently collide and generate fragments that release dust, icy grains and stored gases.

Detected by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile, this cloud of dust envelops Beta Pictoris, a bright star thought to be about 20 million years old. The ALMA images show the huge belt is mostly gathered in a single clump located about 8 billion miles from the star, or virtually three times the gap between the planet Neptune and the sun. The overall quantity of carbon monoxide detected is greater than 200 million billion tons, similar to about one-sixth the mass of Earths oceans, the study team said.

Because ultraviolet starlight splits up carbon monoxide molecules in about a century, the researchers said the ringed cloud may not be what it first seems.

So unless we are observing Beta Pictoris at a very unusual time, then the carbon monoxide we observed must be continuously replenished, said study author Bill Dent, a researcher at the Joint ALMA Office in Santiago, Chile.

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Massive Ring Of Carbon Monoxide Discovered In Turbulent Comet Field