Today, it is known that planets are formed from extended gas and dust disks surrounding newborn stars – the so-called protoplanetary disks. Particles of the substance of such structures collide with each other, stick together, and eventually grow into bodies of planetary dimensions.

ESO notes that our solar system is highly flattened – all planets revolve around the sun in approximately the same plane. But in protoplanetary disks around multiple stars, a different picture can be observed: in such systems, exotic planets can be formed, reminiscent of Tatooine from the movie epic “Star Wars”.

The researchers studied the Orion GW multiple systems, which is located more than 1,300 light-years away in the constellation Orion. It consists of three stars and a deformed, torn apart disk around them.

“ The images we have obtained show that we have an extreme case of a protoplanetary disk: it is not flat at all, but curved and contains a ring with an offset center, torn off from the disk itself, ” the publication says.

In other words, instead of a flat protoplanetary disk, which is observed around many stars, the system under consideration has a curved disk, which, in fact, is torn apart by the movement of three stars in its central part. The inner ring contains dust in an amount of about 30 Earth masses, sufficient to form planets.

” Any planets that form in this displaced dust ring will revolve around the central stars in highly inclined orbits, ” the scientists add.