IT IS not often that bullies are a good thing for youngsters in a nursery. But in the case of stellar nurseries, violent stars could actually aid the formation of planets rather than prevent it. It now seems as if ultraviolet light from massive stars might help dust around nearby ordinary stars condense into planetary seeds.
Most stars form in dense clusters such as the stellar nursery in the Orion nebula, 1500 light years away along the same spiral arm of the Milky Way as our sun. Many young stars in the nebula are surrounded by thick discs of gas and dust that might go on to form planets. But there are also a few stars so bright that their light is blowing away the gas around the other stars, in a process known as photoevaporation. It was thought that the gas would take the dust along with it, preventing ...
Subscribe today at only USD $5.95 for your first 4 issues and get New Scientist, the world's leading science & technology news magazine delivered direct to your door every week
As a magazine subscriber you will benefit from instant access to:
