Feature Astronomy

The recipes for solar system formation are getting a rewrite

Oddball exoplanets raise new questions about how solar systems form

exoplanet illustration

TEST KITCHEN  With so many worlds turning up outside our solar system, it’s time to add some chapters to the planetary production manual.

Joseph Alessio

By Lisa Grossman

- More than 2 years ago

With a mortar and pestle, Christy Till blends together the makings of a distant planet. In her geology lab at Arizona State University in Tempe, Till carefully measures out powdered minerals, tips them into a metal capsule and bakes them in a high-pressure furnace that can reach close to 35,000 times Earth’s atmospheric pressure and 2,000° Celsius.