Beta Pictoris Cat’s Tail Animation

This is an animation portraying the creation of the cat’s tail, as hypothesized by a team of astronomers. This structure, which is seen in the southwest portion of Beta Pic’s secondary debris disk, is estimated to span 10 billion miles. Scientists hypothesize that the cat’s tail is the result of a dust production event—like a collision—that occurred a mere one hundred years ago. Initially, the dust created follows the same orbital direction as its source, and then starts to spread out. The star’s light pushes the smallest, fluffiest dust particles away from the star faster, while bigger grains do not move as much, creating a trail of dust. From an edge-on perspective, the sharp incline of the cat’s tail is an optical illusion. Our perspective along with the curvature of the tail creates the observed angle, while in fact, the tendril of dust is only departing from the disk at a five-degree incline. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Ralf Crawford (STScI)