Astronomy Picture of the Day ·

The Dusty Disk of Beta Pic

The Astronomy Picture of the Day for January 19, 1996 is “The Dusty Disk of Beta Pic,” an image. It is credited to Credit: C. Burrows and J. Krist (STScI), WFPC2 IDT Team, NASA, ESA. The original explanation runs about 179 words.

The Dusty Disk of Beta Pic
Credit: C. Burrows and J. Krist (STScI), WFPC2 IDT Team, NASA, ESA Shown from science.nasa.gov. Not hosted by OpenOrbit.

From the explanation

“This dusty disk , viewed edge on surrounding Beta Pictoris , a star only 50 lightyears distant, may signal the presence of an infant solar system. Beta Pictoris is a young Sun-like star just completing its formative stages.”

— APOD editors, January 19, 1996

Read the full explanation on science.nasa.gov

At a glance

Date
January 19, 1996
Type
Image
Credit
Credit: C. Burrows and J. Krist (STScI), WFPC2 IDT Team, NASA, ESA
Copyright
No copyright notice on the entry. Check the credited institution’s own usage rules before reusing it.
Explanation length
About 179 words

All of January 1996 → · 1996 by month → · Full archive since 1995 →

Topics in this entry

The Sun

Topics are matched from words in the title and explanation.

On this day: January 19 in other years

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Source

Copy taken Oct 28, 2026, 2:39 AM EDT. The image and explanation belong to their creators. OpenOrbit is not affiliated with or endorsed by NASA.