ALMA Sheds Light on Planet-Forming Gas Streams Astronomers using
the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA)
telescope have seen a key stage in the birth of giant planets
for the first time. Vast streams of gas are flowing across a gap
in the disc of material around a young star. These are the first
direct observations of such streams, which are expected to be
created by giant planets guzzling gas as they grow. The result
is published on 2 January 2013 in the journal Nature. The
international team of astronomers studied the young star HD
142527, over 450 light-years from Earth, which is surrounded by
a disc of gas and cosmic dust -- the remains of the cloud from
which the star formed. The dusty disc is divided into an inner
and an outer part by a gap, which is thought to have been carved
by newly forming gas giant planets clearing out their orbits as
they circle the star. The inner disc reaches from the star out
to the equivalent of the orbit of Saturn in the solar system,
while the outer disc beg