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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0The Astrophysical Journal

JWST Imaging of Edge-on Protoplanetary Disks. V. Flux Ratio Reversal and Disk-edge Structure in the Flying Saucer

  • Jie Ma1
  • Karl R. Stapelfeldt2
  • Marion Villenave1
  • Gaspard Duchêne1,3
  • François Ménard1
  • Ryo Tazaki4
  • Youcef I. Bouarour1
  • Greta Guidi1
  • Laurine Martinien1
  • Maxime Roumesy1
  • Christophe Pinte1
4 affiliations
  1. 1Univ. Grenoble Alpes
  2. 2Jet Propulsion Laboratory
  3. 3Department of Astronomy
  4. 4Department of Earth Science and Astronomy
Open at sourcePDFDOICite

Abstract

We present near- and mid-infrared broadband imaging observations of the edge-on protoplanetary disk 2MASS J16281370-2431391, a.k.a. the “Flying Saucer,” obtained with NIRCam and MIRI on board JWST. These data are combined with archival optical and near-IR broadband imaging from Hubble Space Telescope (HST), millimeter dust continuum emission from Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, and optical lightcurves from the K2 and TESS for a comprehensive multiwavelength study. The JWST observations reveal a reversal of the flux ratio between the two reflection nebulae at near-infrared wavelengths (2–3 μ m), which can be explained by a misaligned inner disk. For the first time, JWST reveals the bright lining along the disk edge at 2 and 3 μ m, arising from forward-scattering of background photons by dust grains near the τ ≈ 1 layer. By combining the dust lane thickness measured with HST and JWST, we find the dust grains up to at least ∼3 μ m are vertically mixed throughout the disk and have undergone significant growth. In addition, a comparison of earlier HST/NICMOS J - and K -band images with those from JWST/NIRCam reveals variability in the scattered-light morphology, as well as measurable proper motion of the system with respect to the background stars, confirming that the Flying Saucer is comoving with the young star population of ρ Ophiuchus.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{ma2026jwst,
  title = {{JWST Imaging of Edge-on Protoplanetary Disks. V. Flux Ratio Reversal and Disk-edge Structure in the Flying Saucer}},
  author = {Jie Ma and Karl R. Stapelfeldt and Marion Villenave and Gaspard Duchêne and François Ménard and Ryo Tazaki and Youcef I. Bouarour and Greta Guidi and Laurine Martinien and Maxime Roumesy and Christophe Pinte},
  journal = {The Astrophysical Journal},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ae994f},
  url = {https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ae994f},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - JWST Imaging of Edge-on Protoplanetary Disks. V. Flux Ratio Reversal and Disk-edge Structure in the Flying Saucer
AU  - Jie Ma
AU  - Karl R. Stapelfeldt
AU  - Marion Villenave
AU  - Gaspard Duchêne
AU  - François Ménard
AU  - Ryo Tazaki
AU  - Youcef I. Bouarour
AU  - Greta Guidi
AU  - Laurine Martinien
AU  - Maxime Roumesy
AU  - Christophe Pinte
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/05
JO  - The Astrophysical Journal
DO  - 10.3847/1538-4357/ae994f
UR  - https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ae994f
AB  - We present near- and mid-infrared broadband imaging observations of the edge-on protoplanetary disk 2MASS J16281370-2431391, a.k.a. the “Flying Saucer,” obtained with NIRCam and MIRI on board JWST. These data are combined with archival optical and near-IR broadband imaging from Hubble Space Telescope (HST), millimeter dust continuum emission from Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, and optical lightcurves from the K2 and TESS for a comprehensive multiwavelength study. The JWST observations reveal a reversal of the flux ratio between the two reflection nebulae at near-infrared wavelengths (2–3 μ m), which can be explained by a misaligned inner disk. For the first time, JWST reveals the bright lining along the disk edge at 2 and 3 μ m, arising from forward-scattering of background photons by dust grains near the τ ≈ 1 layer. By combining the dust lane thickness measured with HST and JWST, we find the dust grains up to at least ∼3 μ m are vertically mixed throughout the disk and have undergone significant growth. In addition, a comparison of earlier HST/NICMOS J - and K -band images with those from JWST/NIRCam reveals variability in the scattered-light morphology, as well as measurable proper motion of the system with respect to the background stars, confirming that the Flying Saucer is comoving with the young star population of ρ Ophiuchus.
SN  - 0004-637X
SN  - 1538-4357
ER  -