Astronomers report startling find on planet formation

Astronomers are reporting a find that challenges traditional theories as to how rocky planets—such as Earth—are formed.

Besides Earth, our solar system has three other rocky planets: Mercury, Venus and Mars. They have a solid surface and core of heavy metals, and differ from planets that are large spinning bodies of gas, like Jupiter or Saturn.

The new findings suggest rocky planets may be even more common in the universe than previously thought.

The research was presented Friday in the Astrophysical Journal of Letters.

The astronomers used a cutting-edge telescope called ALMA, on a mountaintop 5,000 meters (16,400 feet) high in the remote desert of northern Chile.

They peered out into space at a brown dwarf named ISO-Oph 102. A brown dwarf is an object that is like a star but too small to shine as brightly. Traditional theory holds that rocky planets form through the random collision of microscopic particles in the disc of material that surrounds a star. The particles, like fine soot, stick together and grow.