protoplanetary disks
Astronomers Propose a 14-Meter Infrared Space Telescope
The Universe wants us to understand its origins. Every second of every day, it sends us a multitude of signals,…
This is the Largest Planet-Forming Disk Ever Seen
Roughly 1,000 light-years from Earth, there is a cosmic structure known as IRAS 23077+6707 (IRAS 23077) that resembles a giant…
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…
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…
Webb Finds Hints of a Third Planet at PDS 70
The exoplanet census now stands at 5,599 confirmed discoveries in 4,163 star systems, with another 10,157 candidates awaiting confirmation. So…
Massive Stars Have the Power to Shape Solar Systems
Stars shape their solar systems. It's true of ours, and it's true of others. But for some massive stars, their…
Some Young Planets Are Flattened Smarties, not Spheres.
One of contemporary astronomy's most pressing questions concerns planet formation. We can see more deeply than ever into very young…
Three Iron Rings Around A Star Show Where Planets are Forming
Researchers using the ESO's Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) have found three iron rings around a young star about 500…
Webb Finds Icy Complex Organic Molecules Around Protostars: Ethanol, Methane, Formaldehyde, Formic Acid and Much More
In the quest to understand how and where life might arise in the galaxy, astronomers search for its building blocks.…
ALMA Takes Next-Level Images of a Protoplanetary Disk
The ESO's Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is perched high in the Chilean Andes. ALMA is made of 66 high-precision…