Planets form in disks of gas and dust orbiting young stars. Observations indicate that rocky planets are more likely than gas giants to form around stars much more lightweight than our Sun. However, depending on conditions within the disk, the planets that form there could be very different from Earth.

In a new study, astronomers used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to study a red dwarf star weighing just one-tenth as much as our Sun. No known planets have formed around this young star yet, which is just one to two million years old. The team found that the gas in the planet-forming region of the star is rich in carbon-bearing molecules. Paradoxically, this means that any rocky planets that form there could be carbon-poor.