Astrophysicists have taken images of a large sample of exocomet belts for the first time, imaging the bands along with the tiny pebbles that orbit within. The images were published in a study in Astronomy and Astrophysics, showing bands of a variety of structures.
“The images reveal a remarkable diversity in the structure of belts,” said Sebastián Marino, a study author and an astronomer at the University of Exeter, according to a press release. “Some are narrow rings […] but a larger number of them are wide, and probably better described as ‘disks’ rather than rings.”
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In our own Solar System, comet belts are bands of comets and other objects that orbit the Sun. The Kuiper Belt is one such band, orbiting the Sun beyond the reach of Neptune. Formed from the remnants of the birth of the Solar System, the Kuiper Belt is ...
