Planetary Formation

What's Inside Uranus and Neptune? A New Way to Find Out

Uranus and Neptune are "ice giants," containing chemicals like methane and ammonia, but compressed under intense pressure. This is just…

6 days ago

Webb Scans Vega for Planets

To northern sky watchers, Vega is a familiar sight in the summer sky. It’s one of the brightest stars in…

1 month ago

ALMA Detects Hallmark “Wiggle” of Gravitational Instability in Planet-Forming Disk

According to Nebula Theory, stars and their systems of planets form when a massive cloud of gas and dust (a…

3 months ago

A New Model Explains How Gas and Ice Giant Planets Can Form Rapidly

The most widely recognized explanation for planet formation is the accretion theory. It states that small particles in a protoplanetary…

4 months ago

Sulphur Makes A Surprise Appearance in this Exoplanet’s Atmosphere

At our current level of knowledge, many exoplanet findings take us by surprise. The only atmospheric chemistry we can see…

6 months ago

Webb Sees Asteroids Collide in Another Star System

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) continues to make amazing discoveries. This time in the constellation of Pictor where, in…

6 months ago

JWST Uses “Interferometry Mode” to Reveal Two Protoplanets Around a Young Star

The JWST is flexing its muscles with its interferometry mode. Researchers used it to study a well-known extrasolar system called…

7 months ago

Where Are All These Rogue Planets Coming From?

There's a population of planets that drifts through space untethered to any stars. They're called rogue planets or free-floating planets…

8 months ago

Webb Joins the Hunt for Protoplanets

We can't understand what we can't clearly see. That fact plagues scientists who study how planets form. Planet formation happens…

9 months ago

In a Distant Solar System, the JWST Sees the End of Planet Formation

Every time a star forms, it represents an explosion of possibilities. Not for the star itself; its fate is governed…

9 months ago