Astronomers discover possible birth of the smallest known solar system

Astronomers have discovered what they believe is the birth of the smallest known solar system. Peering through ground- and space-based telescopes, scientists observed a brown dwarf -- or failed star -- less than one hundredth the mass of the sun surrounded by what appears to be a disk of dust and gas.
http://www.dailykos.com/

The brown dwarf — located 500 light years away in the constellation Chamaeleon — appears to be undergoing a planet-forming process that could one day yield a solar system, said Kevin Luhman of Pennsylvania State University, who led the discovery.

It's long been believed that our own solar system came into existence when a huge cloud of gas and dust collapsed to form the sun and planets about 4.5 billion years ago.

The new finding is the smallest brown dwarf to be discovered with planet-forming properties. If the disk forms planets, the resulting solar system will be about 100 times smaller than our own, scientists said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051130/ap_on_sc/tiny_solar_system;_ylt=ApSuSFAGhqnRox7xM3P4x_EPLBIF;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--

Although would it really be a "solar system" without an actual star?

It would be more like a large gas giant with a bunch of overgrown moons. :)

And isn't there really only one "Solar" System anyway, since the name of our star is "Sol"?

Technically, all the others would be Stellar Systems or Star Systems.

That IS the smallest known solar system.