Planet making is a very rough process
20 October 2004
by Richard
Conan-Davies
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Making planets from cosmic dust may be way more messy and rough than previously thought. This is the latest thinking now from recent observation using the Spitzer Space Telescope. Astronomer Dr. George Rieke lead researcher from the University of Arizona, Tucson with Caltech in association with NASA have noticed that nearby by stars with planetary disc formations are much dustier and rockier than previously thought. Using the very sensitive infrared sensors in the Spizer Telescope Dr. Rieke explained that "We thought young stars, about one million years old, would have larger, brighter discs, and older stars from 10 to 100 million years old would have fainter ones," he expanded by adding "we found some young stars missing discs and some old stars with massive discs." |
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