Planets really made from dust

[carzen]

Floating discs of debris do indeed turn into planets, and now the world finally has evidence to prove it.

Scientists analyzing data from the Hubble Space Telescope have at last confirmed the long-held belief put forward by philosopher Emmanuel Kant more than 200 years ago.

Until now, astronomers have detected more than 200 extra-solar planets and have seen many debris disks around young stars, but they have yet to observe a planet and a debris disk around the same star.

In a paper to be published in November's Astronomical Journal, an international team of astronomers led by G. Fritz Benedict and Barbara E. McArthur of the University of Texas, Austin, show for the first time that a planet is aligned with its star's circumstellar disk of dust and gas.


http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.2006...