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Thanks for posting this.

Here’s another item that may be worth its own science thread (if it hasn’t already been posted):

A study published in tomorrow’s Science shows that our Solar System may be more special than thought after all.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/321/5890/814

Gas Disks to Gas Giants: Simulating the Birth of Planetary Systems

Edward W. Thommes,1,2* Soko Matsumura,2 Frederic A. Rasio2 The ensemble of now more than 250 discovered planetary systems displays a wide range of masses, orbits and, in multiple systems, dynamical interactions. These represent the end point of a complex sequence of events, wherein an entire protostellar disk converts itself into a small number of planetary bodies. Here, we present self-consistent numerical simulations of this process, which produce results in agreement with some of the key trends observed in the properties of the exoplanets. Analogs to our own solar system do not appear to be common, originating from disks near the boundary between barren and (giant) planet-forming.