Have you ever wondered how our Solar System began? Now, scientists might have just caught the very moment it all starts. Using two powerful space telescopes, astronomers have seen young planets begin to form around a star far away.
Telescopes team up to reveal cosmic origins
International researchers watched a star called HOPS-315, located 1,300 light-years away, as planets started forming around it. This star is still young, wrapped in gas and dust. That dusty ring holds the pieces that could become new planets.
The James Webb Space Telescope spotted signs of solid minerals. These are known as silicon monoxide, beginning to cool and harden. It’s the first time anyone has seen this happen. Later, the ALMA telescope in Chile helped locate where the minerals appeared. They formed close to where our asteroid belt is today.
Discovery mirrors our Solar System’s early days
Professor Melissa McClure, who led the research, called it the earliest view of planet formation seen outside our system. The discovery was shared in the journal Nature. She and her team believe this may be how Earth-like planets are born.
Professor Merel van ’t Hoff, a co-author, said it was like looking at a baby version of our own solar system. The young star’s disc closely matches what surrounded our Sun about 4.6 billion years ago.
Most earlier studies only saw discs or large newborn planets. But this time, scientists witnessed the very first step, when small rocky solids start to form.
The birth of planets seen for the first time
The minerals are found both as gas and crystals. That means the process of forming planetesimals has truly begun. Their location, much like our asteroid belt, adds to the theory that this is how our Solar System might have started.
Professor Edwin Bergin said no one had seen this before outside Earth’s neighbourhood. The minerals match those seen in old meteorites that even predate Earth.
ESO scientist Elizabeth Humphreys, who was not part of the research, said the find marks a very early stage of planet building. She praised the teamwork between the two telescopes.
Astronomers believe HOPS-315 now gives them a rare place to study how other worlds begin. It may hold answers to how systems like ours are formed across the galaxy.
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