ATACAMA DESERT, CHILE — A team of researchers have detected planets forming around a young star similar to the sun according to a press release from ALMA. <br /><br />According to the paper published in Astrophysical Journal Letters, DM Tau is located in the Taurus constellation 470 light-years away from Earth. It is between three and five million years old and weighs roughly half the mass of the sun.<br /><br />The researchers spotted the system forming using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array known as ALMA.<br /><br />ALMA is a radio telescope that captures radio waves from the universe. It is located in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile.<br /><br />Using the ALMA, scientists were able to view two rings of dust forming around the star. The inner ring is 4 astronomical units, known as AU, from the star and the second ring is 20 AU away. Scientists believe this is where the planets are forming.<br /><br />The team hopes to gain a better understanding of the origin of planets like Earth by studying the formation of this neighboring solar system.
