Ultraviolet radiation from massive stars can thwart planet formation Sciences
Massive stars can prevent planet formation through the ultraviolet radiation they emit. Using the Hubble Space Telescope, scientists observed that planet formation was prevented in this way.
It is a Jupiter-like planet in the Orion Nebula, researchers wrote in the latest issue of the scientific journal Sciences. Dutch scientists from the University of Amsterdam and Leiden University are participating in this international research team.
Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system and is composed almost entirely of gas. Rocky planets like Earth are composed primarily of rocks. The Orion Nebula is located about 1,344 light-years from Earth. Therefore, the gas nebula is relatively close and can be seen clearly.
In the Orion Nebula there is a disk of gas and dust in which planets form. But the planet that scientists were monitoring failed to fully form.
Ultraviolet radiation from massive stars in the nearby Trapezium Cluster ejected much of the gas. This left too little gas to form a planet.
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