Ring around the Pulsar: Planets may form in a harsh environment

Astronomers over the past 2 decades have discovered several hundred planet-forming disks around young, ordinary stars. But now, researchers report evidence of one of these rings of debris in a most unlikely place—circling the ultradense cinder of a star that died in a supernova explosion.

SUPERDISK. A disk of rubble and gas, possibly capable of forming planets, surrounds a pulsar known as 4U 0142+61, in this artist’s concept.