Newborn planets look more like Smarties than spheres, study suggests

A computer simulation of planets forming in a protostellar disc (Adam Fenton/Dimitris Stamatellos/University of Central Lancashire/PA)

When new planets form around stars they have flattened shapes, like Smarties, and are not spherical as previously thought, scientists have said.

Researchers at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) used computer simulations to model the formation of planets.