An international research team, including members with ties to the University of Michigan, has witnessed the earliest moments to date of planets beginning to form around a star beyond the sun.
An international research team, including members with ties to the University of Michigan, has witnessed the earliest moments to date of planets beginning to form around a star beyond the sun.
This finding marks the first time a planetary system has been identified at such an early stage of formation and opens a window to the past of our own solar system.
This newborn planetary system is emerging around the young star HOPS-315, which sits some 1,300 light years away from Earth. Around such young stars, astronomers often see discs of gas and dust known as protoplanetary discs, which are the birthplaces of new planets.
Using the JWST space telescope and the Atacama Large Millimeter Array, or ALMA, in Chile, the researchers observed signs of dust and gas coming together to form solids. These solids then bind together, growing first into planet seedlings called “planetesimals” that then grow over time into planets.
Read more: University of Michigan
Image: This is HOPS-315, a baby star where astronomers have observed evidence for the earliest stages of planet formation. Image credit: ALMA(ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/M. McClure et al. via University of Michigan
