Two Planet Formation Scenarios

Artist's View of Planetary System in Globular Cluster M4

A rich starry sky fills the view from an ancient gas-giant planet in the core of the globular star cluster M4, as imagined in this artist's concept. The 13-billion-year-old planet orbits a helium white-dwarf star and the millisecond pulsar B1620-26, seen at lower left. The...

White Dwarf Star Yields Key to Planet's Mass

Three unlikely companions - two burned-out stars and a planet - orbit each other near the crowded core of an ancient globular cluster of more than 100,000 stars. Only one companion, however, is visible in the images. In the image at right, taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope,...

Globular Cluster M4 - NOAO Image

Globular Cluster M4

Jovian Planet in Globular Cluster M4: Calm Bystander in Stellar Drama

The Milky Way and Scorpius Constellation

Globular cluster M4, NOAO

Green Circle Marks Pulsar Orbited by Oldest Known Planet

Detail from HST/WFPC2 with Location of Pulsar

Green circle marks pulsar orbited by oldest known planet

Zoom-in to M4 Detail and Planetary System Animation

A zoom into the summer constellation Scorpius to reveal the globular cluster M4. Zoom continues to Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys image of the location of the planet in M4's starry core. The zoom dissolves to an artist's rendition of the Jupiter-sized planet orbiting...

Space Science Update: Oldest Known Planet (Webcast)

"Stellar Drama" Animation

This animation shows how the Jovian planetary system in the outskirts of globular cluster M4, 13 billion years ago, travels to the core of the cluster. The star is drawn toward a neutron star and its companion. The slowly spinning neutron star captures the star and planet. Its...

Gas Collapse Model of Planet Formation

An animation showing the theory of a gas collapse model of planet formation. A protoplanetary disk of gas and dust forms around a young star. Gravitational disk instabilities form a clump of gas that becomes a self-gravitating planet. Dust grains coagulate and sediment to the...

Accretion Model of Planet Formation

An animation showing the theory of an accretion model of planet formation. The oribiting dust grains accrete into "planetisimals." The planetisimals grow inside the disk to form "planetary embryos." Gas-giant planets accrete gas envelopes before disk gas dissappears. Gas-giant...