Astronomers spot moon-forming rings around a baby exoplanet

For the first time, astronomers have detected a dusty ring around an exoplanet where moons could be born. They hope the discovery will teach us more about how both planets and moons are formed.

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The newly forming exoplanet PDS 70c orbits a star almost 400 light-years from Earth, along with protoplanet PDS 70b. PDS 70c was discovered with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in 2019. Previous studies found hints that it may have a moon-forming disc around it, but astronomers have now confirmed it, thanks to new, high-resolution images from the Atacama Large Millimetre/ submillimeter Array (ALMA).