Artist's Rendition of a Protoplanetary Disk (IMAGE)

University of Arizona

Artist's Rendition of a Protoplanetary Disk

Caption

Like a raindrop forming in a cloud, a star forms in a diffuse gas cloud in deep space. As the star grows, its gravitational pull draws in dust and gas from the surrounding molecular cloud to form a swirling disk called a "protoplanetary disk." This disk eventually further consolidates to form planets, moons, asteroids and comets.

Credit

NASA/JPL-Caltech

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