Star Systems Hint at Possibility of Sun's Nemesis
by SPACE.com Staff
Date: 19 January 2006 Time: 01:03 PM ET


Debris disks discovered around two nearby stars look strikingly like the Kuiper Belt in the outer part of our solar system, astronomers said today.

The disks were found in a survey of 22 Sun-like stars by the Hubble Space Telescope. By blocking out light from the central stars, Hubble was able to image dust and other material around the stars.

The stars are about 60 light-years away, and the shape of their disks have astronomers pondering the long-debated possibility that our own Sun might have an as-yet unfound companion dubbed Nemesis.


Unseen companions?

Each of the two disks has a sharp outer edge that might be caused by an unseen companion star that gravitationally grooms the material. Our own Kuiper Belt, which contains comets, Pluto and other frozen worlds, is thought to have similarly abrupt outer bound.