debris disk gerde-ye tifâl Fr.: disque de débris A disk developing around a star after the dissipation of the → protoplanetary disk of gas and dust whose material was used in the formation of planets during the first 10 million years. The resulting debris disk is mainly composed of residual → planetesimals analogous to → asteroids, → comets, and → Kuiper Belt Objects in the Solar System. Their mutual collisions produce observable → dust emission in a belt encompassing the planetary system. |