Image of a star in the constellation Taurus surrounded by a ring of dust.
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Image courtesy of STScI

Hubble Images Possible Planet-Forming Systems
News story originally written on February 12, 1999

Scientists have used the Hubble Space Telescope to take images of possible planet-forming regions. The images show disks of dust circling different stars in the constellation Taurus. Scientists are interested in looking at other planet-forming regions because they hope to learn more about how our Solar System formed.

We can only see the disks that are edge-on to us because they block the star's light. Otherwise the star's light will overpower the light reflected by the disks.


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