Related topics: climate change

Cosmic dust may be key source of phosphorus for life on Earth

When Earth formed 4.5 billion years ago, any phosphorus that was present likely sank into the molten core because of the element's distinct chemical properties. However, phosphorus is essential for life; it is found in DNA, ...

Image: Nebula churns out massive stars in new Hubble image

Stars are born from turbulent clouds of gas and dust that collapse under their own gravitational attraction. As the cloud collapses, a dense, hot core forms and begins gathering dust and gas, creating a protostar. This star-forming ...

Image: Reflected starlight bathes forming star

This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image captures a portion of the reflection nebula IC 2631 that contains a protostar, the hot, dense core of a forming star that is accumulating gas and dust. Eventually the protostar may gravitationally ...

Astronomers see dust disk around young super-Jupiter

An international team of astronomers led by scientists from Leiden University has for the first time characterized a dust disk surrounding a young super-Jupiter, which is either a giant planet or brown dwarf. They used so-called ...

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