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Science 26 March 2004:
Vol. 303. no. 5666, pp. 1982 - 1983
DOI: 10.1126/science.1095851
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Perspectives

ASTRONOMY:
Nearby Planetary Disks

David Mouillet

More than 100 planets have been discovered around stars during the past decade, but it has been very difficult to observe earlier stages when the star is surrounded by a disk of preplanetary dust. In his Perspective, Mouillet discusses observations reported in the same issue by Kalas et al. of a circumstellar disk around the young nearby star AU Mic. Because the star is also among the least massive, the discovery should provide useful complementary comparisons with models of planetary system formation and future opportunities for high-resolution imaging.

The author is at the Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de l'Observatoire Midi-Pyrenees, 57 av Azereix. BP826, Tarbes 65008, France. E-mail: mouillet{at}bagn.obs-mip.fr

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)