Birth of a solar system caught ‘on camera’ for first time

For the first time ever, astronomers have captured an image resembling the birth of a solar system — witnessing what may be the early blueprint of our own Sun’s formation.

Using a combination of ground-based and space-based telescopes, the team identified a young protostar named HOPS-315, approximately 420 parsecs (around 1,370 light-years) away, currently undergoing one of the most exciting stages of stellar evolution: the formation of planet embryos. 

“We’re trying to find something that looks like the early Solar System.”
— Merel van ’t Hoff (Astronomer at Purdue University and co-author of the study) 

Earlier observations detected crystalline silicate minerals surrounding HOPS-315 — a strong indicator that planet formation is beginning. Planetary systems are born when dust and gas coalesce within a protoplanetary disk. 

In the colorful ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array in Chile) image, orange shows carbon monoxide (CO) gas blown away from the star, while blue represents silicon monoxide (SiO) — both tracing the jets and outflows from the disk.

This discovery has been formally published in the journal Nature, providing a valuable reference for future studies.

Link to the published article: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-02245-y

Contact:

Daniel Harsono, dharsono@gapp.nthu.edu.tw

Reference: McClure, M. K. et al. Nature 643, 649–653 (2025).