Small planets don't need 'heavy metal' stars to form

Wednesday, June 13, 2012 - 17:30 in Astronomy & Space

The formation of small worlds like Earth previously was thought to occur mostly around stars rich in heavy elements such as iron and silicon. However, new ground-based observations, combined with data collected by NASA's Kepler space telescope, show small planets form around stars with a wide range of heavy element content and suggest they may be widespread in our galaxy.

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