Discovery of 30 exocomets in a young planetary system

The star Beta Pictoris has fascinated astronomers because it enables them to observe a planetary system in the process of formation. It is made up of at least two young planets, and also contains comets, which were detected as early as 1987. Now, an international research team has discovered 30 such exocomets and determined the size of their nuclei, which vary between 3 and 14 kilometers in diameter.