Astronomers Find A Bounty Of Baby Planets Hidden In The Dust Around Their Stars
An exciting paper published today in the Astrophysical Journal announced the discovery of a treasure trove of planets, found lurking in the Taurus constellation. The newfound exoplanets reside 450 light-years away from Earth in a stellar nursery and were spotted with the help of the European Southern Observatory’s Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) stationed in northern Chile.
According to Phys.org, the newly discovered celestial bodies are baby planets that have only just begun to take shape. Their presence had been shrouded by the vast dust clouds surrounding their parent stars and was ultimately unraveled when the ALMA detected some rings and gaps within the accretion disks revolving around the stars.
Known as protoplanetary disks, these circular formations typically occur around newborn star. These dust disks are chock-full with planet-forming material and represent the fabric from which solar systems are fashioned — including our own.
