Glimpsing the Solar System’s Birth

Where do you look to glimpse the birth of a solar system like ours? Our sun is thought to have formed along with a range of stellar siblings. This star cluster likely moved out on its own, bound by gravity, in what astronomers call a “Moving Group.”

This video explores two nearby moving groups. M67, also known as the King Cobra Cluster, was once pegged as the birth place of our solar system. The evidence now says it’s not, but astronomers have now detected planets there. The other is the Beta Pictoris group, with the most famous of all solar systems in formation… Beta Pictoris. Find out how a solar system is taking shape within the fold of this hot star.

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