spacetoday.net: Space telescopes spy forming solar systems

Posted: Mon, Dec 13, 2004, 7:36 AM ET (1236 GMT)
Protoplanetary dust disk illustration (STScI)

Images from two NASA space telescopes have allowed astronomers to observe some of the "missing links" in the formation of solar systems. Images from Hubble, released last week, show a bright dust disk surrounding HD 107146, a Sun-like star 50-250 million years old. At that age gas giants should have formed from the protoplanetary disk, but smaller terrestrial planets may still be in the process of formation. Meanwhile, the Spitzer Space Telescope has spotted remnant dust disks surrounding older stars around which extrasolar planets have previously been discovered. The discoveries, scientists said, allow them to better understand the process by which planets form from dust disks like these.