Photo: Planet-Forming Disk Spotted Around Dead Star

Email to a Friend << Back to Full Story


A still image from an artist's animation shows a pulsar—the rapidly rotating core of a dead massive star—surrounded by a disk of debris from the star's explosion.

Scientists announced today that they found such a disk around a pulsar 13,000 light-years from Earth and that the debris could eventually clump together to form planets.

Image courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech

MOST VIEWED NEWS

PICTURES: 2012 Doomsday Myths Debunked

2012: Six End-of-the-World Myths Debunked

APOCALYPSE PICTURES: 10 Failed Doomsday Prophecies
NEWS FEEDS    After installing a news reader, click on this icon to download National Geographic News's XML/RSS feed. After installing a news reader, click on this icon to download National Geographic News's XML/RSS feed.

Get our news delivered directly to your desktop—free.
How to Use XML or RSS

ADVERTISEMENT

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC'S PHOTO OF THE DAY

Today's National Geographic Photo of the Day

• Today's Photo

• Download as Wallpaper

50 Drives of a Lifetime

National Geographic Traveler has scoured the globe for the world's most beautiful, interesting, and off-beat road trips. Dive in to get drive directions, quizzes, photos, and more.