Planet-forming disc (artist's impression)

Astronomers have been able to study planet-forming discs around young Sun-like stars in unsurpassed detail, using ESO's Very Large Telescope. The studied discs were known to have gaps in the dusty discs (represented by the brownish colour in the image) but the astronomers found that gas is still present inside these gaps (represented by the white colour in the image). This can either mean that the dust has clumped together to form planetary embryos, or that a planet has already formed and is in the process of clearing the gas in the disc.

Credit:

ESO

About the Image

Id:eso0827a
Type:Artwork
Release date:8 September 2008
Related releases:eso0827
Size:1918 x 1074 px

About the Object

Name:Protoplanetary disc
Type:Milky Way : Star : Circumstellar Material : Disk : Protoplanetary
Category:Illustrations

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