Posted: Wed, Nov 30, 2005, 6:09 AM ET (1109 GMT)
Astronomers announced late Tuesday that they have discovered what they believe to be a miniature solar system orbiting a brown dwarf star. Astronomers at Harvard and Penn State used the Spitzer Space Telescope to observe Cha 110913-773444,a brown dwarf only eight times the mass of Jupiter. The observations uncovered a dusty disk surrounding the star that astronomers believe could eventually condense into planets. The star is the smallest found to date with a protoplanetary disk; the star is so small it is less massive than the largest exoplanets found around larger stars, raising some questions about whether any objects that form around it should be considered planets or moons.

Related Links:

•  SPACE.com article
•  AP article
•  Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics press release
•  Penn State Univ. press release