'Distance' from the brightest stars is key to preserving primordial discs

(ESA/Hubble Information Centre) The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope was used to conduct a three-year study of the crowded, massive and young star cluster Westerlund 2. The research found that the material encircling stars near the cluster's centre is mysteriously devoid of the large, dense clouds of dust that would be expected to become planets in a few million years.