Astronomers witness first moments of planet formation as rock grains crystallize around distant star HOPS-315.

Weighing in at 0.6 solar mass, HOPS-315 should someday grow to become a star much like our own sun; this makes it a promising stand-in for studying the first stages of our solar system’s history. For ...

A young sunlike star called HOPS 315 seems to host a swirling disk of gas giving rise to minerals that kick-start the planet formation process.