In planet formation, as in adolescence, you've got your late…

In planet formation, as in adolescence, you've got your late bloomers. Such is the case for a 1 star called TW Hydrae. At some three million to 10 million years of age, it's relatively old for a young star. That is, TW Hydrae 2 much more recently than our sun but is past the point at which most fledgling stars are still encircled by a 3 disk of dust and gas—the stuff of planet formation. But a new analysis shows that TW Hydrae retains a surprisingly hefty circumstellar disk, 4 that the star could still be forming giant planets. The study appears in the journal Nature. Researchers from the U.S., Germany and the Netherlands 5 the European Space Agency's orbiting Herschel Space Observatory at TW Hydrae to investigate the star's disk. They 6 a heavy hydrogen molecule called hydrogen deuteride.From that 7 they were able to estimate the abundance of ordinary hydrogen, which makes up the bulk of the disk. The result: TW Hydrae still has enough raw material left to make 60 Jupiters or so, 8 its maturity. For aging stars, then, perhaps 10 million is the new 30.