The photo album of baby planets may be emptier than astronomers thought.
New research is prompting debate about the theory that gaps in planet-forming disks around young stars mark spaces where planets are being created in real time. It turns out that the planets that, according to simulations, would grow up in those gaps don’t resemble the full-grown planets observed around more mature stars.
So, maybe these broken-up disks don’t point to the formation of planets at all — or at least, not the most common kinds of planets that current telescopes can see.