In space, a twin of the solar system has been found for the first time

For the first time, an international team of astronomers has recorded the earliest stage of rocky planet formation around a young Sun-like star. This gave scientists a unique opportunity to see how the history of our own planetary system might have begun more than 4.5 billion years ago. The work is published in the journal Nature.

The object of the study was the protostar HOPS-315, a yellow dwarf in the process of formation, estimated to be only 100-200 thousand years old. It is located approximately 1370 light years from Earth in the direction of the Orion constellation.

Using the James Webb Space Telescope and the ALMA radio interferometer, scientists were able to look into the gas and dust disk around the star and discovered hot mineral particles there - silicate crystals and silicon oxide molecules. According to modern understanding, these are exactly the substances that became the first solid "building blocks" of planets in the Solar System.

Observations showed that the active zone of mineral formation is located approximately where the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter is in our system. Previously, such a process had not been detected outside the Solar System - it remained unknown whether it is a universal stage in the birth of planets or a unique feature of our planetary system.

Astronomers plan to search for other similar objects to understand how common the scenario of "Earth-like" world formation is.

"We want to know whether we are alone, or if planets similar to Earth are born in space much more often than we think," emphasized co-author of the study, Purdue University researcher Merel van 't Hoff.