Astronomers have photographed the ‘best image ever’ of planet formation surrounding an infant star as a part of the testing and verification process for the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array’s (ALMA) new high-resolution capabilities. The stunning new image reveals in tremendous detail the planet-forming disk surrounding HL Tau, a sun-like star situated roughly 450 light-years from Earth in the constellation Taurus.

ALMA uncovered previously unseen features in the system, such as multiple concentric rings separated by well-defined gaps. These structures indicate the young star is already undergoing planet formation.

ALMA Deputy Director Stuartt Corder said in a statement, “These features are almost certainly the result of young planet-like bodies that are being formed in the disk. This is surprising since HL Tau is no more than a million years old and such young stars are not expected to have large planetary bodies capable of producing the structures we see in this image.”

It is believed that stars are formed among clouds of gas and dust that collapse under gravity. Over time, the surrounding dust particles stick together and grow into sand, pebbles, and larger rocks, which ultimately settle into a thin protoplanetary disk where planets, asteroids, and comets form.

The planetary bodies undergo dramatic shaping of their structure and natal disk when they accumulate enough mass. Rings and gaps also form as the planets clear their orbits of debris and corral dust and gas into tighter, more confined zones.

According to universetoday.com, protoplanets are small celestial objects that are the size of a moon or slightly larger.