Circumstellar disks as a research area encompasses the observational, theoretical, and computational study of gas and dust structures surrounding young and evolved stars, with emphasis on their formation, dynamics, composition, and role in planet formation and mass-loss processes. This field integrates high-resolution imaging, spectroscopy, radiative transfer modeling, and magnetohydrodynamics to investigate protoplanetary and debris disks, disk accretion and winds, dust growth and migration, and disk-planet interactions. Research also addresses disk chemistry, ionization and thermal structure, and the coupling of disks to stellar magnetic fields, linking star formation, early stellar evolution, and the emergence of planetary systems.
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was involved in yet another first discovery recently available in pre-print form on arXiv from Cicero Lu at the Gemini Observatory and his co-authors. This time, humanity's most advanced ...
Astronomy
Dec 23, 2025
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48
Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have imaged the largest protoplanetary disk ever observed circling a young star. For the first time in visible light, Hubble has revealed the disk is unexpectedly chaotic and ...
Astronomy
Dec 23, 2025
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660
Observations with the instrument SPHERE at ESO's Very Large Telescope have produced an unprecedented gallery of "debris disks" in exoplanetary systems.
Astronomy
Dec 3, 2025
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74
An international team of astronomers have employed the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to observe a nearby M-dwarf star known as TWA 20. As a result, they detected a large debris disk around this star. The finding was reported ...
Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers have performed infrared observations of a planetary debris disk around a nearby white dwarf known as GD 362. Results of the new observations, presented October 8 on ...
Large exoplanets are more easily detected than small ones. It's axiomatic. While large planets block out more starlight during transits, small planets block out much less, letting them hide in the overpowering glare from ...
Planetary Sciences
Sep 5, 2025
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35
Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have made the highest resolution image to date, revealing new insights into the unusual and mysterious architecture of the debris disk encircling Fomalhaut, ...
Astronomy
Sep 5, 2025
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251
A study led by Jenny Frediani at Stockholm University has revealed a planet-forming disk with a strikingly unusual chemical composition: an unexpectedly high abundance of carbon dioxide (CO2) in regions where Earth-like planets ...
Astronomy
Aug 29, 2025
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122
Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers have observed a young brown dwarf known as Cha Hα 1. As a result, they found that the disk around this brown dwarf is hydrocarbon-rich. The finding was detailed in ...
Astronomers may have caught a still-forming planet in action, carving out an intricate pattern in the gas and dust that surrounds its young host star. Using ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT), they observed a planetary disk ...
Astronomy
Jul 21, 2025
0
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