News Astronomy

Unlikely nursery for new planets is next to massive black hole

Blobs of planet-forming dust swirl within three light-years of Milky Way center, study claims

Maelstrom of Gas

POSSIBLE PLANET NURSERY  A turbulent maelstrom of gas, seen in this radio image from the Very Large Array, swirls around the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. In those swirls, astronomers think they have found budding solar systems.

F. Yusef-Zadeh et al, NRAO, AUI, NSF

By Christopher Crockett

- More than 2 years ago

As if the menagerie of known worlds in the Milky Way weren’t strange enough, now there might be solar systems forming within three light-years of the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy.