Two UK astronomers may have found an answer to the 25-year-old mystery of how planets form in the aftermath of a supernova explosion. Astronomers Dr Jane Greaves, of the University of Cardiff, and Dr Wayne Holland, of STFC's UK Astronomy Technology Centre in Edinburgh presented their work this week at the National Astronomy Meeting at the University of Hull. The first planets outside our solar system were only discovered 25 years ago - not around a normal star like our Sun, but instead orbiting a tiny, super-dense 'neutron star'. These remnants are left over after a supernova, the titanic explosion of a star many times more massive than our own. Read more
PSR B1257+12B is an extrasolar planet (approximately 980 light-years away) in the constellation of Virgo (the Virgin). PSR B1257+12B was the first planet ever discovered outside the Solar system, and is the second object known to be orbiting the pulsar PSR B1257+12, which it circles at a distance of 0.36 AU with an orbital period of approximately 66 days. Read more