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Protostars within 0.1 light year of an O-type star are doomed to have their cocoons of dust and gas stripped away in just few million years, according to a new study. The process is much faster than the formation of planets. 

Researchers measured that protoplanetary discs in the Orion Nebula are directly impacted by irrespective of formation of drift within range of one of the enormous O-Type stars existing in that nebula. 

They noted that massive amounts of energy pouring off an O-Type star will completely destroy the protoplanetary disc surrounding a young star in short order. 

"O-type stars, which are really monsters compared to our Sun, emit tremendous amounts of ultraviolet radiation and this can play havoc during the development of young planetary systems," saud Rita Mann, an astronomer with the National Research Council of Canada in Victoria, and lead author of the paper, according to Astronomy. "Using ALMA, we looked at dozens of embryonic stars with planet-forming potential and, for the first time, found clear indications where protoplanetary disks simply vanished under the intense glow of a neighboring massive star."

Researchers said majority of sun-like stars are born in crowded stellar nurseries which is identical to the Orion Nebula. In period of few million years, grains of dust and reservoirs of gas combine into larger and denser bodies. 

"Taken together, our investigations with ALMA suggest that extreme UV regions are not just inhospitable, but they're downright hazardous for planet formation. With enough distance, however, it's possible to find a much more congenial environment," added Mann. "This work is really the tip of the iceberg of what will come out of ALMA; we hope to eventually learn how common solar systems like our own are."

The Canadian and U.S. researchers published their work in the Astrophysical Journal.