* Astronomy

Using the Gemini South telescope in Chile, astronomers at UCLA have found dusty evidence for the formation of young, rocky planets around a star some 500 light years distant. But these potential extrasolar worlds are alien in an even more intriguing way In the aftermath of collisions between planetary embryos around this star the researchers discovered that the dusty debris bears no resemblance to the planetary building blocks of our own Solar System.
The star, known as HD 131488, appears to be surrounded by warm dust in a region called the terrestrial planet zone, where the star heats the dust to temperatures similar to those found on Earth.

"What makes HD 131488 truly unique is the unidentified dust species released from the colliding bodies as well as the presence of cold dust far away from the star, These two characteristics make HD 131488 unlike any other star with evidence for massive quantities of dust in its terrestrial planet zone" - UCLA professor of physics and astronomy Dr. Benjamin Zuckerman, who is a co-author of the research which is pending publication.

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