LOS ANGELES, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- U.S. astronomers say new planets appear to be forming or have recently formed around a star in the Pleiades star cluster.
Lead author Joseph Rhee of the University of California, Los Angeles, said the planets appear to be the result of "monster collisions" of planets or planetary embryos.
Rhee said the findings were made using the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii and the Spitzer Space Telescope. The research is reported in an upcoming issue of the Astrophysical Journal.
"This is the first clear evidence for planet formation in the Pleiades, and the results we are presenting may well be the first observational evidence that terrestrial planets like those in our solar system are quite common," Rhee said Thursday in a release.
Located about 400 light-years away, the Pleiades is one of the closest star clusters to Earth. The astronomers calculate that terrestrial planets or planetary embryos in the Pleiades collided within the last few hundred thousand years, the release said.
