Photo Suggests Planet Under Construction

[TechBear_Seattle]

Photo Suggests Planet Under Construction

Astronomers have peered into the womb of a stellar disk to capture an image of material falling onto what could be a planet in an early stage of formation.

The new image shows a somewhat horseshoe-shaped void in the disk surrounding a young star called AB Aurigae. Within the void, a barely visible bright spot could indicate a developing object that's currently between 5 and 37 times the mass of Jupiter.

"The deficit of material could be due to a planet forming and sucking material onto it, coalescing into a small point in the image and clearing material in the immediate surroundings," said researcher Ben Oppenheimer, an astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. "It seems to be indicative of the formation of a small body, either a planet or a brown dwarf."

The article continues at http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/080326-planet-progress.html

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Before I pass, given current life expectancy, I expect

not only a clear photo of an extrasolar planet, but that life exits AWAY from this world

And the crisis that this will bring to a slew of religious faiths will be fun to watch

[Lautremont]

2. That's no moon.

[Phoonzang]

3. I saw this story earlier...most misleading headline

ever!

[jeff30997]

5. Yeah.I was expecting a picture like this one:

[baby_mouse]

4. Gaah!

"womb", "construction"... GAAH!

Must they use such terms?!?!?

Cool, anyhow.

[pleah]

6. Oooh! Ahhh!

:)

[eppur_se_muova]

7. My first thought on seeing that little dot -- shepherd moon.

Of course it's a planet, not a moon, but the same phenomenon, I guess.