L. Ilsedore Cleeves

The birth of planets is a cosmic forge: gas and dust compress, shock waves and harsh radiation burn away all complexity. It was thought that fragile organic threads like cyanopolyynes couldn't survive this hell.

Around young stars, flat clouds of gas and dust swirl: these are future planetary systems. Inside some of them, a void gapes: the dust and gas have been swept away, as if someone thinned out the middle of a vinyl record.