Astronomers spot young star

? A young, sun-like star with orbiting blobs of dust and rock may be forming planets, giving astronomers their first chance to observe the evolution of a planetary system like our own.

The star, named KH 15D, is unique in astronomy because it is periodically obscured by clouds of matter that orbit between the star and viewers on Earth, said William Herbst of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn.

Herbst said Wednesday the orbiting material may be building planets, perhaps following the same evolutionary process that is thought to have formed the Earth and its sister planets.

“The processes that are going on in this inner disk region could be analogous to what was going on in the formation of the Earth,” said Herbst.

“It could shed light on our origins by helping us to understand how our Earth and the planets in the solar system came to be.”

Although many distant stars have been observed to have orbiting debris, Herbst said KH 15D “is the only one that behaves in this way” and the only one seen with matter orbiting so close to the central star.

“The star is eclipsed by material that is circling it,” said Herbst. “Essentially, the star winks at us.”

The eclipse comes at very regular intervals, with the star dimming over a two-day period and then brightening again following the eclipse.

KH 15D is 2,400 light years from Earth. A light year is about 5.8 trillion miles.

The Wesleyan astronomers presented their findings Wednesday at a meeting of astronomers who are conducting research on extrasolar planets planets that orbit stars other than our sun. So far, astronomers have found almost 100 such planets, nearly all of them large gaseous bodies the size of Jupiter or bigger.