A 2003 NASA Hubble study revealed that the giant disks that set the stage for the formations of the early universe lasted longer than expected for those trapped inside them. Older stars are thought to be deficient in the heavy elements necessary for the formation of planets. So how can these stars still be “cooking” at the ripe old age of 20-30 million years?

In search of an answer, researchers used NASA's Webb telescope to look at stars in a nearby galaxy that is as poor in heavy elements as the early universe. The circles in the second image mark the locations of the 10 stars studied. The studies revealed that some stars not only harbor planet-forming disks, but that these disks are longer-lived than those around young stars in the Milky Way. These findings confirmed Hubble's previous discoveries.

Image descriptions:
1. In the center of the image are orange and pink arcs forming a boat-like shape. One end of these arcs points towards the upper right side of the image, while the other end points towards the lower left side. Another plume of orange and pink expands from the center of the image to the upper left corner. To the right of this cloud is a large cluster of white stars. Scattered throughout the image are several other white stars and several galaxies of different sizes.

2. The second image is identical to the first, but annotated with 10 small, yellow circles placed at various points to indicate the positions of the stars studied in this study.