By Ron Cowen
From Austin, Texas, at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/7412.jpg?resize=300%2C229&ssl=1)
Debris disks surrounding stars are signposts that planet formation has already begun. The material in such disks is continually replenished as asteroids or other rocky debris—leftovers from the planet-making process—collides and produces fresh dust. Most debris disks are uniformly distributed around their star.
Not so the disk surrounding the star HD 61005. As observed with a near-infrared camera on the Hubble Space Telescope, part of the disk appears to be swept back behind the star.