Exo Planet Excursions

Jon discovers peril close to home in the debris disc around brilliant Vega.

- Jon Culshaw

The unending diversity and variation of the exoplanet systems that we’ve made our stops at is always staggering: every world as different and contrasting from the next as it’s possible to imagine. I find it fascinating to consider the formative times of stars and their planetary systems, to mull over the extent to which conditions vary in the early periods of exoplanet systems, as matter coalesces and gravitational order settles into place.

A trip to Vega will let us see a marvellous example of a family of planets in formation. Will it be a view of another late heavy bombardment, or the gentle settling down of a snow globe after a thorough shake?