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Planets don’t just pop out of nowhere, fully formed and ready for astronomers to study. First, they begin as tiny little specks of dust, forming inside the clouds of gas around baby stars, which are known as protoplanetary discs. These dusty specks condense from the hottest parts of the cloud, kinda like the way raindrops form inside rainclouds. 

 

Over time, the specks of dust collide and stick together, forming rocky pebbles. When enough of these pebbles clump together, they can collapse under their own weight to form asteroid-sized rocks. These new-born asteroids gravitationally attract the material around them until they’ve grown into full-sized planets. 

 

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