2006-06-12 | SCIENCE
NASA's Fuse Finds Infant Solar System Awash in Carbon
Scientists using NASA's Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer, or FUSE, have discovered abundant amounts of carbon gas in a dusty disk surrounding a young star named Beta Pictoris.
The star and its emerging solar system are less than 20 million years old, and planets may have already formed. The abundance of carbon gas in the remaining debris disk indicates that Beta Pictoris' planets could be carbon-rich worlds of graphite and methane, or the star's environs might resemble our own solar system in its early days.
Learning about how planets form in systems like Beta Pictoris may help scientists understand the conditions in which life can develop in such locations. This information can also help determine how habitable planets form and how common they are in the Universe.
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from NASA, Jun 12, 2006
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