Oldest known planet-forming disk discovered.

Scientists from University of Oklahoma have discovered the oldest known planet-forming disk — a 45 million-year-old ring of gas and dust that orbits around a young star, from which planets can form as the material collides and aggregates. The team described a newly identified red dwarf star with a warm circumstellar disk, of the kind associated with young planetary systems. Circumstellar disks around red

dwarfs like this one are rare to begin with,

but this star, called AWI0005x3s, appears to have sustained its disk for an exceptionally long time. The findings are published by The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

iv. This particular red dwarf is a candidate member of the Carina stellar association, which would make it around 45 million years old (like the rest of the stars in that group). It’s the oldest red dwarf system with a disk we’ve seen in one of these associations.

Oldest known planet-forming disk discovered.