text: A protoplanetary disk (or proplyd) is a rotating disk of dense gas surrounding a young newly formed star.\n\nYou can read more about it here:\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protoplanetary_disk\n\nWith the vastness of space and the number of stars that form solar systems, the probability of intelligent life (perhaps not carbon based life as we know it) is almost a certainty.  The Milky Way Galaxy is on the outer edge of the universe - which is why we haven't had visitors!