A planet may be forming in the habitable zone of an alien sun

A young sunlike star about 176 light-years away may have its own planet in an Earth-like orbit someday.

Scientists using the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile have found evidence of what may be a planet forming in an Earth-like orbit around the star TW Hydrae.

The researchers discovered a gap in the star’s planet-forming disk that is about the same distance from TW Hydrae as the Earth is from the sun.

This gap could hint at the formation of a nascent planet in what may be the habitable zone in relation to its sun, an orbit in which liquid water can be supported on the planet’s surface. Read more…