[neverdem]

Photographs by NASA/ESA
Top, a debris disk, more than 40 billion miles across, hovers around a star. Above, a debris disk encircles a star similar to our Sun.

[Thebaddog]

Think of it, we are all made of stardust. What was that song from the sixties?

[BikerNYC]

Very cool. Thanks.

[SampleMan]

And I thought watching grass grow was boring. Remember, a watched disk of galactic dust never congeals.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Great, there's planets forming under my bed.

[Conservative Canuck]

Here's a great link:

http://fuse.pha.jhu.edu/~wolven/astronomy.html

Links to experiments, observatories, spacecraft and journals.

[onedoug]

God works on....

[tx_eggman]

Astronomers think they know what goes into making a planetary system

Glad to hear they got this one figured out. Maybe tomorrow they can tell me with certainty whether or not it's going to rain down my way

[Madstrider]

NASA is in such a sorry state that the U.S. is unable to fulfill its contribution to the ISS, which will never be fully realized. The Space Shuttle program, once the totem of American technological prowess, is past its prime. No longer the leaders in space exploration perhaps the American people will be content to stay on the sidelines and watch. After all they have their Social Security, Welfare, Single Parent Programs and Food Stamps.

[Veto!]

Our own solar system, the astronomers pointed out, has a similar disk of junk, known as the Kuiper Belt, a band of icy debris on the fringes of our own solar system, as well as dust in the inner regions that gives rise to the zodiacal light.

Zodiacal light? Astronomers are such poets.

Here's a NASA photo:

Zodiacal Light
Credit & Copyright: D. Malin
Explanation: Sometimes the sky itself seems to glow. Usually, this means you are seeing a cloud reflecting sunlight or moonlight. If the glow appears as a faint band of light running across the whole sky, you are probably seeing the combined light from the billions of stars that compose our Milky Way Galaxy. But if the glow appears triangular and near the horizon, you might be seeing something called zodiacal light. Pictured above, zodiacal light is just sunlight reflected by tiny dust particles orbiting in our Solar System. Many of these particles were ejected by comets. Zodiacal light is easiest to see in September and October just before sunrise from a very dark location.

[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth"

Great bumper sticker:

God spoke, and BANG! It happened.

[RadioAstronomer]

bttt

[Drammach]

Here's another article on the same thing at:

Space.com

and, another pic from that article..

[KevinDavis]