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The makings of a new solar system

Astronomers discover possible miniature planetary system

— Photo: AP

ARTIST'S CONCEPTION: A hypothetical system centred on a tiny sun, top right, compared to a known system centered on a star about the same size as sun, bottom right.

LOS ANGELES: Astronomers peering through ground- and space-based telescopes have discovered what they believe is the birth of the smallest known solar system.

Scientists found a tiny brown dwarf — or failed star — less than a hundredth the mass of the sun surrounded by what appears to be a disc of dust and gas. The brown dwarf — located 500 light years away in the constellation Chamaeleon — appears to be undergoing a planet-forming process that could one day yield a miniature solar system, said Kevin Luhman of Penn State University, who led the discovery.

It has long been believed that our solar system came into existence when a huge cloud of gas and dust collapsed to form the sun and planets about 4.5 billion years ago. The latest finding is intriguing because it is the smallest known brown dwarf to be discovered with planet-forming properties. If the disc forms planets, the resulting solar system will be about 100 times smaller than our system, scientists say.

The discovery was made using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and Hubble Space Telescope as well as ground observatories. The results will be published in the December 10 issue of the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Brown dwarfs, bigger than a planet but much smaller than a star, are thought to be balls of gas that failed to collect enough mass to shine. — AP

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