For the first time, astronomers have imaged dozens of belts around nearby stars where comets and tiny pebbles within them are orbiting.

This result reveals regions around 74 stars spanning a wide range of ages—from those recently formed to others billions of years old—showing how comets play a role in the formation of stars and planetary systems. The study is published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

To find evidence for comets outside our solar system (called “exocomets”), astronomers turned to two facilities that detect particular bands of radio waves. Because of the size of the dust and rocks in these belts, this type of light is particularly good at finding and imaging these structures.