PLANET-FORMING DISKS PROVIDE GALACTIC TIMELINE, RESEARCHERS SAY
from The Associated Press
The same gravitational shoving match that swept dense swarms of comets
and asteroids from our solar system long ago is apparently at work
around nearby stars, astronomers say.
The findings suggest there's a distinct timeline in the evolution of
solar systems - at least in the violent "clean up" stage believed to cap
the planet-forming process.
European astronomers scrutinized infrared images of 84 stars of varying
sizes and intensity, looking for the planet-forming disks of dust,
asteroids and comets that encircle many young stars like Saturn's rings.