ROUGH NEIGHBORHOOD: Earth-like planets may form even in harsh environments, James Webb Space Telescope finds.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has found water and organic carbon molecules near a massive, active young star that’s situated in a faraway star-forming region of space, suggesting Earth-like exoplanets could form even in the harshest environments in our Milky Way Galaxy. Potentially, some of those exoplanets may even exhibit habitable conditions.

The planet forming disk in question, officially designated as XUE-1, surrounds a star about as big as our sun. But that star’s much larger, and more vicious, siblings are not far away.

Don’t call your travel agent just yet.