Hold onto your hats, folks! Our solar system used to be a donut? 🍩

You heard that right. A recent study, published in the journal *Nature Astronomy*, has turned our understanding of the solar system’s early days on its head. Researchers, analyzing data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope, have concluded that our solar system wasn’t always the flat disc we know today. It used to be a donut!

This surprising revelation stems from the study of a young star system, PDS 70, located about 370 light-years away. This system, home to two gas giants (PDS 70b and PDS 70c) is just a few million years old, making it a perfect window into the solar system’s infancy.

Here’s what researchers found:

• Donut-shaped dust ring: The dust and gas around PDS 70 form a ring with a gaping hole in the center, a telltale sign of a donut shape.

• Planetary Formation: The two gas giants, PDS 70b and PDS 70c, are located within this ring, suggesting that planets form within these donut-shaped structures.

• Solar System’s Early Days: The similarities between the PDS 70 system and our own solar system’s early stages indicate that our solar system could have also been donut-shaped in its youth.

This finding could have significant implications for our understanding of how planets form. While it’s easy to imagine a flat disc of dust and gas coalescing into planets, the donut-shaped structure adds a new dimension to the process.

How does this donut shape affect planet formation?

• Gravity and Dust: The donut’s central hole suggests a region of lower density. This lower density allows dust and gas to clump together more easily, leading to the formation of planetesimals, the building blocks of planets.

• Planetary Migration: The donut shape may also explain why some planets migrate to different orbits, a phenomenon observed in our solar system.

This exciting discovery opens a new chapter in our understanding of planetary formation and the early evolution of our solar system. While the exact mechanisms behind the donut shape still need to be fully understood, this research has unveiled a fascinating new puzzle for scientists to solve.

So, the next time you gaze up at the night sky, remember that our solar system wasn’t always the flat disc we see today. It used to be a giant, swirling donut, a cosmic pastry filled with the potential for planetary formation.

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