Astronomers have taken unprecedented images of baby planets in a distant star system. The planets are still surrounded by rings of gas and dust from which moons appear to be taking shape.
The two imaged infant planets, or "protoplanets," orbit the star PDS 70, located 370 light-years away in the constellation of Centaurus. PDS 70 is little more than a toddler in stellar terms, at just around 5 million years old. If this seems ancient, consider that our "middle-aged" solar system is around 4.6 billion years old.
The scientists behind this research believe that, billions of years ago, the solar system would have resembled a mini-version of the PDS 70 system.
