FOR RELEASE: November 20, 1995

PHOTO NO.: STScI-PRC95-45c

EDGE-ON PROTOPLANETARY DISK IN THE ORION NEBULA

Resembling an interstellar Frisbee, this is a disk of dust seen edge-on
around a newborn star in the Orion nebula, located 1,500 light-years
away.  Because the disk is edge-on, the star is largely hidden inside,
in this striking Hubble Space Telescope picture.  The disk may be an
embryonic planetary system in the making.  Our solar system probably
formed out of just such a disk 4.5 billion years ago.  At 17 times the
diameter of our own solar system, this disk is the largest of several
recently discovered in the Orion nebula.

The left image is a three-color composite, taken in blue, green, and
red emission lines from glowing gas in the nebula.  The right image was
taken through a different filter, which blocks any bright spectral
emission lines from the nebula, and hence the disk itself is less
distinctly silhouetted against the background.  However, clearly
visible in this image are nebulosities above and below the plane of the
disk; these betray the presence of the otherwise invisible central
star, which cannot be seen directly due to dust in the edge-on disk.

The images were taken between January 1994 and March 1995, and a study
of their characteristics has been submitted for publication to the
Astronomical Journal.

Credit: Mark McCaughrean (Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy),
C. Robert O'Dell (Rice University), and NASA

Image files in GIF and JPEG format and captions may be accessed on
Internet via anonymous ftp from ftp.stsci.edu in /pubinfo:

                        GIF               JPEG
PRC95-45c Edge-On Disk  gif/OriEODsk.gif  jpeg/OriEODsk.jpg             

Higher resolution digital versions (300 dpi JPEG) of 
the release photographs will be available temporarily 
in /pubinfo/hrtemp: 95-45c.jpg.  

GIF and JPEG images and captions are available via World Wide Web at
http://www.stsci.edu/pubinfo/PR/95/45.html, or via links in
http://www.stsci.edu/pubinfo/Latest.html, and in
http://www.stsci.edu/pubinfo/Pictures.html