... Star Clusters . ... Stars@ESO . ... Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope in northern Chile have today announced the discovery of an unexpected clump of carbon monoxide gas in the dusty disc around the star Beta Pictoris. This is a surprise, as such gas is expected to be rapidly destroyed by starlight. ... Beta Pictoris , a nearby star easily visible to the naked eye in the southern sky, is already hailed as the archetypal young planetary system. ...