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RESEARCH

I am interested in how stars form from clouds of interstellar gas, and how planets form out of disks around young stars.

What's the difference between a star and a planet? (top left)

We found a cloud core nine times the mass of Jupiter in the star-forming regions ρ Ophiuchus. Is it a planet, or a very low mass ‘failed star' brown dwarf?

Is this like the young Solar System?
(bottom left)

We observed a ring of ‘debris' around the star ε Eridani , which is 11 light years away and a lot like the Sun in its past. The ring is made when comets collide and the ‘lumps and bumps' are thought to be marshalled by a planet – exact location yet unknown!