Object Analysis

HL Tauri is a very young star in the constellation Taurus, located about 450 light-years from Earth. It is a T Tauri star, a class of variable stars that are in the final stages of star formation but have not yet begun nuclear fusion in their cores. It is estimated to be less than 1 million years old.

HL Tauri became world-famous in 2014 when the ALMA radio telescope captured the most detailed image ever taken of a protoplanetary disk. The image revealed a series of concentric bright rings separated by dark gaps. These gaps are believed to be the "footprints" of young planets that are currently forming and clearing their orbits of gas and dust.

The discovery was a shock to astronomers because it showed that planet formation was happening much faster than previously thought. HL Tauri provides a real-time look at the birth of a solar system, showing that the process of building planets begins almost as soon as the star itself is born.