Astronomers have captured the moment a planetary system is formed in the distant universe, about 1,300 light-years away (1 light-year is approximately 9.46 trillion kilometers). A planetary system refers to celestial bodies orbiting a star (like the sun) that emits light. It is expected to help understand the history of the solar system, as it has a structure similar to our solar system.
A joint research team from Leiden University in the Netherlands and Purdue University in the United States announced on the 17th that they observed the formation of a newborn planetary system around a baby star called 'HOPS-315' in the constellation ORION using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), a large radio telescope operated by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in the Atacama Desert of Chile, and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The research results were published that day in the international journal Nature.
Melissa McClure, a professor at Leiden University, noted, 'We have confirmed the very first moment when planet formation begins around a star that is not the sun.' Merel van der Toff, a professor at Purdue University, commented, 'What we are seeing looks similar to the time when the solar system began to form,' adding, 'This system resembles what the solar system looked like when it was just starting to form.'
HOPS-315 is a star comparable to the early stages of the sun. A disk composed of gas and dust is observed around the baby star. It is where new planets are forming. Astronomers believe that the initial condensed solid materials are growing into planets similar to the cores of Earth or Jupiter.
This discovery is expected to provide substantial evidence supporting hypotheses in the field of astronomy. The research team found evidence that high-temperature minerals begin to condense in the disk surrounding HOPS-315. Silicon monoxide (SiO), which serves as a seed for planets, not only exists around the baby star in a gaseous state but was also found within crystalline minerals. This indicates that solidification has just begun.
The research team stated that the disk of HOPS-315 will serve as an excellent research material that reveals the history of the universe. It presents a new opportunity to verify what actually occurred in the solar system and to study newborn solar systems throughout the galaxy.
Elizabeth Humphries, a researcher at the European Southern Observatory, said, 'This research reveals the early stages of planet formation and suggests that HOPS-315 may become an important model for understanding solar system formation.'
References
Nature (2025), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09163-z