Artist’s impression
This image depicts the Epsilon Eridani system, where a Jupiter-mass planet orbits its parent star at the outside edge of an asteroid belt. Another narrow asteroid or comet belt plus the outermost belt (similar in size to our solar system’s Kuiper Belt) appear in the background. Observations from the FORCAST instrument confirmed the existence of the asteroid belt adjacent to the orbit of the Jovian planet.
The strongest infrared emission from the warm material surrounding the star, at wavelengths between 25–40 μm, is undetectable by ground-based telescopes because of strong absorption by the Earth’s atmosphere. The similarity of the structure of the Epsilon Eridani system to our solar system is remarkable, even though Epsilon Eridani is much younger than our sun.
Additional Information
SOFIA Observations of the Epsilon Eridani System
United States
