Editing Vega (section)

===Debris disks===
By 2005, the [[Spitzer Space Telescope]] had produced high-resolution infrared images of the dust around Vega. It was shown to extend out to 43″ ({{val|330|u=AU}}) at a wavelength of {{val|24|u=μm}}, 70″ ({{val|543|u=AU}}) at {{val|70|u=μm}} and {{val|105|u="}} ({{val|815|u=AU}}) at {{val|160|u=μm}}. These much wider disks were found to be circular and free of clumps, with dust particles ranging from 1–{{val|50|u=μm}} in size. The estimated total mass of this dust is 3{{e|-3}} times the [[mass of the Earth]] (around 7.5 times more massive than the [[asteroid belt]]). Production of the dust would require collisions between asteroids in a population corresponding to the [[Kuiper Belt]] around the Sun. Thus the dust is more likely created by a [[debris disk]] around Vega, rather than from a [[protoplanetary disk]] as was earlier thought.<ref name=apj628_1_487/>

[[Image:Massive Smash-Up at Vega.jpg|thumb|Artist's concept of a recent massive collision of [[dwarf planet]]-sized objects that may have contributed to the dust ring around Vega]]

The inner boundary of the debris disk was estimated at {{val|11|2|u="}}, or 70–{{val|100|u=AU}}. The disk of dust is produced as radiation pressure from Vega pushes debris from collisions of larger objects outward. However, continuous production of the amount of dust observed over the course of Vega's lifetime would require an enormous starting mass—estimated as hundreds of times the [[mass of Jupiter]]. Hence it is more likely to have been produced as the result of a relatively recent breakup of a moderate-sized (or larger) comet or asteroid, which then further fragmented as the result of collisions between the smaller components and other bodies. This dusty disk would be relatively young on the time scale of the star's age, and it will eventually be removed unless other collision events supply more dust.<ref name=apj628_1_487/>

Observations, first with the [[Palomar Testbed Interferometer]] by [[David Ciardi]] and [[Gerard van Belle]] in 2001<ref name=apj559_1_237/> and then later confirmed with the [[CHARA array]] at Mt. Wilson in 2006 and the [[Infrared Optical Telescope Array]] at Mt. Hopkins in 2011,<ref name=aaa534_1_237/> revealed evidence for an inner dust band around Vega. Originating within {{val|8|u=AU}} of the star, this [[exozodiacal dust]] may be evidence of dynamical perturbations within the system.<ref name=aaa452_1_237/> This may be caused by an intense bombardment of [[comet]]s or [[meteor]]s, and may be evidence for the existence of a planetary system.<ref name=girault_rime_2006/>

The disk was also observed with [[Atacama Large Millimeter Array|ALMA]] in 2020,<ref name="Matrà2020"/> the [[Large Millimeter Telescope|LMT]] in 2022<ref name="Marshall2022"/> and with [[Hubble Space Telescope|Hubble]] STIS<ref name=Wolff2024/> and [[James Webb Space Telescope|JWST]] MIRI in 2024.<ref name=Su2024/> The ALMA image did resolve the outer disk for the first time.<ref name="Matrà2020"/> The Hubble observation is the first image of the disk in scattered light and found an outer halo made up of small dust grains.<ref name=Wolff2024/> JWST observations also detected the Halo, the outer disk and for the first time the inner disk. The infrared observations also showed a gap at 60 AU for the first time. The dust interior of the outer disk is consistent with dust being dragged by the [[Poynting-Robertson effect]]. The inner edge of the inner disk is hidden behind the [[coronagraph]], but it was inferred to be 3-5 AU from photometry. The star is also surrounded by hot infrared excess, located at the sub-AU region, leaving a second gap between the inner disk and the hot dust around the star. This hot infrared excess lies within about 0.2 AU or closer and is made up of small grains, like [[graphite]] and [[Iron oxide|iron]] and [[manganese]] oxides, which was previously verified.<ref name=Su2024/>