"The Solar Family" is an 11-minute educational film produced by Encyclopedia Britannica Films in 1936. It presents the evolution of the solar system through the lens of the planetesimal hypothesis ...

Previously, this phenomenon hadn’t been witnessed directly, and meteorites were the only source for information about the early formation of our Solar System.

However, only a low-mass supernova triggering the formation of the solar system is consistent with the overall meteoritic record.

HOPS-315 is also giving astronomers a new opportunity to study early planet formation, serving as a stand-in for newborn solar systems across the galaxy.