New discoveries about planets keep coming!

NASA announced today that 30 years ago, the Hubble Telescope discovered the strongest evidence yet that the process of planet formation is widespread in our Milky Way Galaxy.

Hubble's observations in this image revealed massive dust discs (the raw material for planet formation) orbiting at least half of the stars in the Orion Nebula, a star-forming region only 1500 light-years from Earth.

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These protoplanetary discs, or proplyds, surround young stars. Our planet Earth, along with the other planets in our solar system, is thought to have formed in this way about 4.5 billion years ago.

Thirty years later, astronomers believe that such planetary systems are common in the universe. Since planets are necessary for life as we know it to form, this raises the possibility of life outside Earth.

Image description:

Hazy, glowing blue, grey and pink clouds cover the image. Five planetary discs can be seen in the foreground. The largest disc glows pale orange in the centre. The others are smaller in size but similar in colour, while the smallest disc on the right is a dark brown blob with a bright centre.