protoplanetary disk

Scientific  

/ prō′tə-plăn′ĭ-tĕr′ē /

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

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Example Sentences

Image: Artist’s impression of a protoplanetary disk distorted by a shock front created by an expanding bubble.

From Space Scoop

According to the study, the giant planet created rings and wide gaps in the protoplanetary disk, helping to solve a long-standing mystery: why many primitive meteorites formed several million years after the very first solid materials.

From Science Daily

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

From 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.

From Science Daily

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

From Science Daily