Astronomers spot earliest signs of planet formation around young star
Astronomers just caught the earliest signs of planets forming around a young star called HOPS-315, about 1,300 light-years away in Orion.
This is the first time solid building blocks for planets have been seen in a disk like this outside our solar system.
Materials found in ancient meteorites on Earth
Using the James Webb and ALMA telescopes, scientists spotted minerals like silicon monoxide and crystalline silicates forming from hot gas—right where an asteroid belt would be if this were our solar system.
These are the same materials found in ancient meteorites here on Earth, marking what researchers call "time zero" for planet formation.
Clear look at how planets might start to form
Because HOPS-315's disk is unusually easy to see, astronomers got a clear look at how planets might start to form—just like ours did 4.6 billion years ago.
As co-author Merel van 't Hoff put it: "We're seeing a system that looks like what our solar system looked like when it was just beginning to form."
Discovery sets up future research with better telescopes
This discovery lets scientists test if Earth's story is unique or more common than we thought—and sets up future research with even better telescopes to figure out how worlds across the universe come to be.