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Astronomers find evidence of hungry young exoplanets

While astronomers now know that exoplanets are exceedingly common in the galaxy, the mechanics by which they are formed aren’t well understood. Planetary childhood remains a mystery.

Young stars start out with a massive disk of gas and dust that over time, astronomers think, either diffuses away or coalesces into planets and asteroids.

“The speculation is that as planets form they clear out a region of gas and dust around them, forming a telltale ‘gap’ in the disk”, said Stefan Kraus, from Physics and Astronomy at the University of Exeter. (more…)

Photo Proof: Super Stars of the Universe Have Humble Beginnings

By Guest PostJuly 18, 20101 commentScience4.6 billion years, 85-meter telescope, Chile, department of astronomy, eso, european southern observatory, high-mass stars, NASA, nasa spitzer space telescope, southern sky, stefan kraus, stellar collisions, super massive star, universe, university of michigan, very large telescope interferometer

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—The first close-up picture of a nascent super massive star and its surroundings has shown that the highest mass stars in the universe form just like their smaller counterparts. They are born from swirling disks of gas and dust, rather than from violent stellar collisions.

“How these high mass stars form has been a debate for 20 years,” said Stefan Kraus, a research fellow in the University of Michigan Department of Astronomy who is first author of a paper on the findings published July 15 in Nature.

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Astronomers find evidence of hungry young exoplanets

Photo Proof: Super Stars of the Universe Have Humble Beginnings