ALMA Finds Compelling Evidence for Pair of Infant Planets around Young Star

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Source:  By National Radio Astronomy Observatory

Excerpt: Astronomers now know that our galaxy is teeming with planets, from rocky worlds roughly the size of Earth to gas giants bigger than Jupiter. Nearly every one of these exoplanets has been discovered in orbit around a mature star with a fully evolved planetary system. New observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) contain compelling evidence that two newborn planets, each about the size of Saturn, are in orbit around a young star known as HD 163296. These planets, which are not yet fully formed, revealed themselves by the dual imprint they left in both the dust and the gas portions of the star’s protoplanetary disk. [see image https://public.nrao.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/imagespr2016cbnrao16cb25nrao16cb25a_nrao-1170x600.jpg]...

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