In a breakthrough discovery, astronomers have, for the first time, captured the very beginning of planet formation around a distant young star — offering a glimpse into how our own Solar System may have come to life.
The star, named HOPS-315, lies 1,300 light-years away in the Orion Nebula and bears a striking resemblance to our Sun during its infancy. Surrounding HOPS-315 is a swirling protoplanetary disc — a massive ring of gas and dust where planets are born.
Within this disc, astronomers detected silicon monoxide-rich crystalline minerals beginning to solidify. These hot particles can clump together, eventually forming kilometre-sized planetesimals — the building blocks of planets like Earth and Jupiter.
Using data from the James Webb Space Telescope, scientists first identified the presence of these minerals. Then, by honing in with the ALMA telescope in Chile, they pinpointed their location to a zone resembling the asteroid belt in our own Solar System.
“For the first time, we have identified the earliest moment when planet formation is initiated around a star other than our Sun,” said lead researcher Melissa McClure of Leiden University.
These findings, published in the journal Nature, allow researchers to observe a planetary system in its earliest stages — and perhaps better understand the cosmic recipe that gave rise to our home planet.
“We’re seeing a system that looks like what our Solar System looked like when it was just beginning to form,” added co-author Merel van’t Hoff from Purdue University.
