Gemini Telescopes
Astronomers say Alien dust is nothing to sneeze at
by EAAE Webteam on Jan.06, 2010, under Extrasolar Planets, Gemini Telescopes
Credit: Gemini
Artist’s impression of the events around HD 131488.
Credit: Lynette Cook for Gemini Observatory/AURA
Using the Gemini South telescope in Chile, astronomers at UCLA have found dusty evidence for the formation of young, rocky planets around a star some 500 light years distant. But these potential extrasolar worlds are alien in an even more intriguing way… In the aftermath of collisions between planetary embryos around this star the researchers discovered that the dusty debris bears no resemblance to the planetary building blocks of our own Solar System. (read more)
