How to Build a Planet

Where do planets come from? How did our solar system form? This video explains what stars and planets are made of and how they are created. Both planets and stars form together over millions of years from giant clouds of gas and dust. Tour a visualization of the Orion Nebula to see the creation of new systems and learn about plans to study them with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.

Production Details

All images, illustrations, and videos courtesy of NASA and STScI except:

• Webb telescope animation courtesy of NASA, SkyWorks Digital, Northrop Grumman, STScI

The science operations for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, developed in partnership with the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency, are conducted by AURA’s Space Telescope Science Institute.

Many thanks to Greg Bacon, John Godfrey, Hussein Jirdeh, Jason Kalirai, Brandon Lawton, Alexandra Lockwood, Marc Lussier, Charlie McWade, Bonnie Meinke, Joseph Olmsted, Roy Renza, Denise Smith, and Frank Summers.