According to a press release from Université Grenoble Alpes and the CNRS dated December 3, 2025. Based on a scientific publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics, to which the Lyon Astrophysics Research Center (CRAL, CNRS / Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 / ENS de Lyon) of the Lyon Observatory of Universe Sciences contributed: "Characterization of debris disks observed with SPHERE." Photo credit: © N. Engler et al./Astronomy & Astrophysics
An international scientific team comprising several French teams, including astronomers from the Grenoble Institute of Planetology and Astrophysics (IPAG - UGA/CNRS), has conducted the largest study ever carried out on debris disks using the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile, revealing new insights into the formation and evolution of planetary systems. Debris disks are comparable to the asteroid or Kuiper belts in our solar system, but are found around other stars rather than our sun. They are relics of planet formation and, as such, provide information about the conditions under which planetary systems formed and evolved.
Astronomers used an instrument called SPHERE, an exoplanet hunter that detects planets and disks surrounding stars. It was assembled and designed in part in France and in Grenoble at the Grenoble Institute of Planetology and Astrophysics (UGA/CNRS). This instrument is designed to correct for turbulence in the Earth’s atmosphere in order to provide the sharpest possible images and take advantage of the power of the 8-meter VLT telescope located in the Atacama Desert. Thanks to SPHERE’s advanced imaging and polarimetry capabilities, researchers analyzed images of 161 young stars located in the vicinity of our sun.
The study revealed detailed images of 51 debris disks, four of which were photographed for the first time. These images reveal the fine dust contained in these disks, as small dust particles are very numerous in these disks. They are produced during collisions between larger bodies, asteroids, and comets, and thus effectively scatter the light from their star.
Read more on the CNRS website
References
"Characterization of debris disks observed with SPHERE" N. Engler, J. Milli, N. Pawellek, R. Gratton, P. Thébault, C. Lazzoni, J. Olofsson, H.M. Schmid, S. Ulmer-Moll, C. Perrot, J.-C. Augereau, S. Desidera, G. Chauvin, M. Janson, C. Xie, Th. Henning, A. Boccaletti, S. Brown, E. Choquet, C. Dominik, C. Ginski, A. Zurlo, M. Feldt, T. Fusco, J.H. Girard, D. Gisler, R.G. van Holstein, M. Langlois, A.-L. Maire, D. Mesa, P. Rabou, L. Rodet, M. Samland, T. Schmidt, A. Vigan. DOI : 10.1051/0004-6361/202554953