Planets may emerge from stellar duo gathering icy dust
Gas freezing onto grains could form comets or larger worlds
CONSTRUCTION AHEAD A ring of carbon monoxide gas (blue) and dust (red) roughly 300 times as wide as Earth’s orbit encircles the binary star HD 142527 (not visible) in this composite image. The dust concentration might be a region where planetary building blocks are forming.
A. Isella/Rice Univ., B. Saxton/NRAO/AUI and NSF, ALMA/NRAO, ESO, NAOJ