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A lot of cosmic exploration centers around the questions "what is weird?" & "what is normal?"
Early studies of young stars found an abundance of huge planetary systems forming. New observations reveal the opposite: Lots of small systems, much more compact than our solar system.
https://www.astronomie.nl/nieuws/en/protoplanetary-discs-are-much-smaller-than-previously-thought-4477 #space #science #astronomy
![Images of 73 protoplanetary discs in the Lupus star forming region (two of the images contain binary stars). Only a fraction of the discs extend beyond the orbit of Neptune, when compared to our own Solar System. Most of the observed discs are small and show no structures like gaps and rings. (c) Guerra-Alvarado et al. (c) Guerra-Alvarado et al. [high resolution]](https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/235/056/994/292/416/original/17627b7e9efc1a43.jpg)