Star Masses Also Yield Exoplanets
Astronomers on Wednesday reported a potentially rich source of exoplanets -- those in solar systems other than our own -- in stellar masses known as star clusters.
Via AFP:
Astronomers on Wednesday reported a potentially rich source of exoplanets -- those in solar systems other than our own -- in stellar masses known as star clusters.
Hundreds of exoplanets have been found since the first was spotted in 1995, but very few have been found inside star clusters, where hundreds of stars, often born at the same time, gather in the same neighbourhood of the galaxy.
That rarity prompted experts to wonder if there was something in star clusters that disrupted the formation of planets from clumps of dust and gas.
But astronomers using an exoplanet-hunting instru...