Planets Form in Organic Soups with Different Ingredients

Client: Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian
Date: 2021
Caption: In this artist’s conception, planets form from the gas and dust in the protoplanetary disk surrounding a young star. The gas is made up of many different molecules, including hydrogen cyanide and more complex nitriles—linked to the development of life on Earth. The soup of molecules in a particular location in the disk shapes the future of the planet forming there and determines whether or not that planet could support life as we know it.
Credit: M.Weiss/Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian
Link: https://pweb.cfa.harvard.edu/news/planets-form-organic-soups-different-ingredients