ROCHESTER, N.Y., Sept. 15 (UPI) -- Astronomers report detecting gaps ringing the dusty disks around two very young stars, suggesting gas-giant planets have formed there.
A team of astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope a year ago found evidence of the first "baby planet" around a young star, challenging most astrophysicists' models of giant-planet formation.
The new findings not only reinforce the idea that giant planets, such as Jupiter, form much faster than scientists have traditionally expected, but one of the gas-enshrouded stars, called GM Aurigae, is analogous to our own solar system.
At only 1 million years of age, the star gives a unique window into how our own world may have come into being.
"The results pose a challenge to existing theories of giant-planet formation, especially those in which planets build up gradually over millions of years," said Nuria Calvet, professor of astronomy at the University of Michigan and lead author of the paper. "Studies like this one will ultimately help us better understand how our outer planets, as well as others in the universe, form."
The research team, led by the University of Rochester, details the findings in the Sept. 10 issue of Astrophysical Journal Letters.
