Even dying stars can still give birth to planets

Planets are usually not much older than the stars around which they revolve. Take the sun: It was born 4.6 billion years ago, and not long after that, Earth developed. But KU Leuven astronomers have discovered that a completely ...

Second baby planet found using pioneering technique

Monash astrophysicists using the ALMA telescope in Chile have a made a world-first discovery with the sighting of a second new 'baby' planet (two to three times heavier than Jupiter) inside a gas and dust gap.

Double dust ring test could spot migrating planets

New research by a team led by an astrophysicist at the University of Warwick has a way of finally telling whether newly forming planets are migrating within the disc of dust and gas that typically surrounds stars or whether ...

The cosmic water trail uncovered by Herschel

During almost four years of observing the cosmos, the Herschel Space Observatory traced out the presence of water. With its unprecedented sensitivity and spectral resolution at key wavelengths, Herschel revealed this crucial ...

First detection of methyl alcohol in a planet-forming disc

The organic molecule methyl alcohol (methanol) has been found by the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) in the TW Hydrae protoplanetary disc. This is the first such detection of the compound in a young planet-forming ...

Planet formation in Earth-like orbit around a young star

The star TW Hydrae is a popular target of study for astronomers because of its proximity to Earth (only about 175 light-years away) and its status as an infant star (about 10 million years old). It also has a face-on orientation ...

Researchers confirm a new forming planet

A study led by Monash University astronomers published new near-infrared images of the system HD 169142, which enabled the confirmation of a protoplanet forming in the system.

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