Planet factory beyond Jupiter may have churned out solar system building blocks

Key facts

• A region beyond Jupiter may have acted as a 'planet factory'.
• This region likely operated for two million years.
• It is believed to have produced numerous space rocks.
• These rocks may have been the building blocks of the solar system.

This discovery suggests a previously unknown mechanism for the formation of planetary building blocks in the early solar system. Understanding the processes in this 'planet factory' could shed light on how our own solar system, and potentially others, came to be.