An international team of researchers, including those from the University of Michigan, have used the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to witness the birth of planets around the young star system PDS 70.

PDS 70, located 370 light years away, is about 5 million years old and is one of the most extensively studied young stellar systems. It is the only known protoplanetary disk system where multiple planets have been detected within the disk from which they are forming.

This system allows scientists to observe planet formation and evolution in their early stages. In PDS 70, a disk of gas and dust surrounds the star with a big gap in the middle where two planets, PDS 70 b and PDS 70 c, form. This gap acts as a planetary construction zone, where the new worlds gather material to grow.