More news of the cool: Planets
Written by: Beck
Astronomers have discovered the youngest planet to date in the neighborhood of Taurus 420 light years (insert cannabis joke here) from Earth. The planet is only approximately 1 million years old, and orbits a star much like our own sun. Go read the article, it's full of nifty little factoids about planetary creation. If that's your bag.
"We've seen the building blocks of habitable planets for the first time unambiguously" in stars that will turn out like our sun, said Dan Watson, professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Rochester in New York.
And Spitzer uncovered a stellar nursery where at least two developing stars, called protostars, contain the gas and dust needed to form planets. The study suggests up to 300 of the stars in the cluster may be similarly equipped.
The three discoveries are seen as related, all pointing to the possibility that planet formation is common and that even Earth-like planets, which might support life, may not be rare.
When asked how they determined the planet's age, scientists responded, "Simple, we just counted its rings." HAW!
