Possible Birth of Tiny Solar System Is Seen
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
Astronomers have witnessed what they believe is the birth of the smallest-known solar system.
Researchers from Pennsylvania State University found a brown dwarf star -- less than one-hundredth the mass of the sun -- surrounded by what appears to be a disk of dust and gas. Located 500 light years away in the constellation Chamaeleon, the brown dwarf appears to be undergoing a planet-forming process that could one day yield a solar system, the team plans to report in a future issue of the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
