---
title: "A Three-Star System Ripped Apart Its Own Protoplanetary Disc"
description: "Scientists identified a solar system with three stars that tore apart its own protoplanetary disc with the stars' bizarre orbits."
date: "2020-09-03"
modified: "2020-09-03"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/three-star-system-ripped-apart-protoplanetary-disc"
categories:
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "exoplanet"
  - "space"
  - "stars"
  - "the digest"
---

# A Three-Star System Ripped Apart Its Own Protoplanetary Disc

![Scientists identified a solar system with three stars that tore apart its own protoplanetary disc with the stars' bizarre orbits.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/three-stars-ripped-apart-protoplanetary-disc.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: L. CALÇADA/ESO, S. KRAUS ET AL, UNIV. OF EXETER\</em\>*

## Topsy-Turvy

For the first time, astronomers have found a star system that ripped apart its own [protoplanetary disc](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/planet-formation-images-alma>), the ring of materials that gradually clump together to form planets.

The star system in question, GW Orionis, is particularly volatile. With three stars at its center, what once was a regular, uniform protoplanetary disk is now warped out of alignment, [according to research](<https://science.sciencemag.org/content/369/6508/1233>) published Thursday in the journal *Science*. It's an unusual find, and it could help the hunt for more exoplanets elsewhere now that scientists know planets could form in bizarre, unique orbits.

## Black Sheep

Thankfully, the damage to the protoplanetary disc isn't so bad that exoplanets can't form around the three stars. Even a separate misaligned ring still has enough material to potentially create a new world.

"Any planets formed within the misaligned ring will orbit the star on highly oblique orbits and we predict that many planets on oblique, wide-separation orbits will be discovered in future planet imaging campaigns," study co-author Alexander Kreplin of the University of Exeter [said in a press release](<https://phys.org/news/2020-09-planet-forming-disc-torn-central-stars.html>).

## Missing Piece

The scientists found that the three stars, all of which are in misaligned orbits, could have gradually ripped the disc apart. But a separate team from the University of Victoria thinks that there's still a missing piece: one exoplanet formed in the middle of the mess that [served as a trigger](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/baby-exoplanet-strange-dust-rings>) for the ensuing chaos.

"We think that the presence of a planet between these rings is needed to explain why the disc tore apart," Victoria researcher Jiaqing Bi said in the release.

**READ MORE:** [New observations show planet-forming disc torn apart by its three central stars](<https://phys.org/news/2020-09-planet-forming-disc-torn-central-stars.html>) \[ESO\]

**More on planet formation:** *[A Baby Exoplanet Is Creating Strange Dust Rings Around Its Star](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/baby-exoplanet-strange-dust-rings>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)