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.
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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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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252
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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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
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145
Instead of a tempest in a teapot, imagine the cosmos in a canister. Scientists have performed experiments using nested, spinning cylinders to confirm that an uneven wobble in a ring of electrically conductive fluid like liquid ...
Planetary Sciences
Jul 7, 2025
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75
An international team of astronomers including researchers at the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory has unveiled groundbreaking findings about the disks of gas and dust surrounding nearby young stars, using ...
Planetary Sciences
Jun 13, 2025
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94
Astrophysicists have gained precious new insights into how distant exoplanets form and what their atmospheres can look like, after using the James Webb Telescope to image two young exoplanets in extraordinary detail. Among ...
Planetary Sciences
Jun 10, 2025
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137
Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers from Johns Hopkins University (JHU) and elsewhere have detected water ice in a debris disk around HD 181327—a young star located within 160 light years away from the ...
A study led by Paolo Padoan, ICREA research professor at the Institute of Cosmos Sciences of the University of Barcelona (ICCUB), is challenging the understanding of planetary disk formation around young stars.
Astronomy
Apr 25, 2025
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