The science of how solar systems begin
From a speculative story to solid science!
“The new ALMA images show the disk in unprecedented detail, revealing a series of concentric dusty bright rings and dark gaps, including intriguing features that suggest a planet with an Earth-like orbit is forming there.”
-Sean Andrews
The question of “where do solar systems come from” has now been scientifically answered and verified.
Deep inside star-forming nebulae, dense regions of gas collapse to become hot and dense at their centers.
These central regions first glow in infrared light, while the material surrounding the center “pancakes” into a disk shape.
The disk rotates, and tiny densities imperfections form within it. In the densest regions, mass begins to clump together, creating the first…