Fomalhaut cs1 and cs2 (clean image)

Esahubble_heic2512b_1024

esahubble_heic2512b December 18th, 2025

Credit: NASA, ESA, P. Kalas (UC Berkeley), J. DePasquale (STScI)

This composite NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows the debris ring and dust clouds cs1 and cs2 around the star Fomalhaut. For comparison, dust cloud cs1, imaged in 2012, is pictured with dust cloud cs2, imaged in 2023. The dashed circles mark the location of these clouds. When dust cloud cs2 suddenly appeared, astronomers quickly noticed they had witnessed the violent collision of two massive objects. Previously thought to be a planet, cs1 is now classified as a similar debris cloud. In this image, Fomalhaut itself is masked out to allow the fainter features to be seen.  This image was created from Hubble data from proposal #17139 (P. Kalas).

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://esahubble.org/images/heic2512b/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Baltimore, MD, United States

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

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Image Details Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Esahubble_heic2512b_128
 

Position Details Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 22h 57m 39.1s
DEC = -29° 37’ 20.4”
Orientation
North is 9.9° CCW
Field of View
0.3 x 0.2 arcminutes
Constellation
Piscis Austrinus

Color Mapping Details Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red Hubble (STIS ) Optical (None) -
Esahubble_heic2512b_1280
×
ID
heic2512b
Subject Category
Subject Name
Credits
NASA, ESA, P. Kalas (UC Berkeley), J. DePasquale (STScI)
Release Date
2025-12-18T20:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://esahubble.org/images/heic2512b/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
STIS
Color Assignment
Red
Band
Optical
Bandpass
None
Central Wavelength
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
None
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
344.41311445338334, -29.6223342523007
Reference Dimension
1887.0, 1418.0
Reference Pixel
943.5, 709.0
Scale
-2.37325422223993e-06, 2.37325422223993e-06
Rotation
9.9399999999999942
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Position
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
ESA/Hubble
URL
https://esahubble.org
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
ESA Office, Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Dr
City
Baltimore
State/Province
MD
Postal Code
21218
Country
United States
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
ESA/Hubble
Publisher ID
esahubble
Resource ID
heic2512b
Resource URL
http://esahubble.org/media/archives/images/original/heic2512b.tif
Related Resources
Metadata Date
2025-12-17T16:26:19.645654
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

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