By employing a new image processing technique, astronomers have obtained near-infrared scattered light photos of disks seen around newer stars in the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes database.
The images reveal evidence for newly formed planets, according to a NASA press release.
Astronomers made the discovery while using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.
"If astronomers initially miss something in their review of data, they can make new discoveries by revisiting earlier data with new image processing techniques, thanks to the wealth of information stored in the Hubble data archive," said NASA.
This is the technique Rémi Soummer, of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Md., and his team used when looking for hidden Hubble treasures.
In this case, the stars were targeted by Hubble's Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) based on heat signatures obtained from the Infrared Astronomical Satellite, and NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, according to NASA.
Around this time, data showed that dusty disks could exist around stars, though no disks were found in the NICMOS by NASA.
Improvements in image processing showed otherwise however. Scientists were able to see the debris disks and even were able to determine their shapes by using the new technology and techniques.
"Now, with such new technologies in image processing, we can go back to the archive and conduct research more precisely than previously possible with NICMOS data," said Dean Hines, one of the researchers, according to the release.
The NICMOS instrument started collecting data in 1997. It has been so important and advanced, ground-based technology is just now beginning to match its power.
Hubble has been used for almost 24 years, and provides a "long baseline of high-quality archival observations," according to the release. It is part of a project between NASA and the European Space Agency.
The dust in the disks is believed to be a product of collisions between small planetary bodies like asteroids.
Debris disks are made up of dust particles created from these types of collisions. Particles are blown outward by radiation pressure from the star, meaning they have to be replenished constantly though more collisions.
The new findings increases the number of debris disks seen in scattered light from 18 to 23, according to NASA. It increases the number of debris disks that astronomers can study and provides them new shapes to examine.
Researchers now plan to search for structures in these dusty disks and "suggest the presence of planets," according to NASA.
"These findings increase the number of debris disks seen in scattered light from 18 to 23. By significantly adding to the known population and by showing the variety of shapes in these new disks, Hubble can help astronomers learn more about how planetary systems form and evolve," said Soummer.
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