World Report: May 1, 1998 Vol.3 No.25
- This Issue:
- Table of Contents
- Cover Story
- Cover Story - Spanish Version
- Mini-Lesson
- Comprehension Quiz
- Teacher's Guide and Worksheets
A Solar System Is Born
The fuzzy, glowing disk in pictures NASA released last week may not look like much. Astronomers can see what our solar system might have looked like when it was just being formed.
"We're seeing a picture of a young adult star starting its own family of planets," said Dr. David Koerner of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Koerner was part of a team that used a telescope in Hawaii to spot the planet-forming activity around star HR 4796. The star at the center is surrounded by what looks like a dust cloud. Empty space in the dust cloud shows spots where debris was pulled into the newly formed planets.
