By Ron Cowen
Astronomers over the past 2 decades have discovered several hundred planet-forming disks around young, ordinary stars. But now, researchers report evidence of one of these rings of debris in a most unlikely place—circling the ultradense cinder of a star that died in a supernova explosion.
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2006/04/5775.jpg?resize=300%2C224&ssl=1)
The finding suggests that these stellar blasts might create an environment in which planets can coalesce. The presence of the disk may also shed light on the still poorly understood events that trigger supernova explosions.