protoplanetary disk

1. A rotating disk of dust and gas that surrounds the core of a developing solar system. It may eventually develop into orbiting celestial bodies such as planets and asteroids.

2. See more at planetesimal

Example Sentences

This so-called protoplanetary disk looks like a butterfly in the images, according to Monsch.

Read more on Seattle Times

There, the researchers potentially found a planet candidate in the act of forming in a protoplanetary disk -- but it wasn't the planet they expected to find.

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This first result focuses on the protoplanetary disk termed XUE 1, which is located in the star cluster Pismis 24.

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It might just be an unlayered conglomeration of grains assembled in a metal-rich region of the protoplanetary disk of gas and dust surrounding the young Sun.

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The team found that DG Taurus has a smooth protoplanetary disk, without any rings which would indicate that planets are forming.

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