By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Stars about the size of our sun are not the most common ones in the Milky Way. Much smaller stars are way more common – and those host the most rocky planets in the galaxy, the type in focus as scientists search for worlds capable of harboring life. New […]
In the Orion Nebula lies a host of bizarre, teardrop-shaped objects. They look like strange comets, but are in fact evaporating, planet-forming disks around young stars. Astronomers are perplexed by the existence of these disks, because they should have been destroyed long ago. This puzzling nature, however, makes them enticing targets for study — and […]
The largest planetary construction site ever seen, spanning hundreds of billions of miles in size, may very well be cast in an enormous shadow that accentuates its bizarre appearance. In short, it looks like a cosmic butterfly — and, for years, it was ignored. The object, known as IRAS 23077+6707, was originally cataloged as a […]
Astronomers have discovered that a planet-birthing disk of gas and dust that surrounds an infant star is drenched with enough water to fill Earth’s oceans three times over. Water, a key element needed to form and sustain life as we know it, has always been considered to play an important role in forming planets. This […]