Protoplanetary disks as a research area encompass the observational, theoretical, and computational study of gas- and dust-rich disks surrounding young stellar objects, which serve as the birthplaces of planets. This field investigates disk structure, composition, thermochemistry, angular momentum transport, and disk evolution through processes such as accretion, turbulence, magnetohydrodynamic effects, dust growth, and planet–disk interactions. Research integrates multiwavelength observations (e.g., ALMA, infrared spectroscopy) with radiative transfer, hydrodynamical, and chemical modeling to constrain disk lifetimes, mass budgets, and conditions for planet formation, as well as to link disk properties to emerging planetary system architectures and demographics.
Astrophysicists led by a team from Trinity College Dublin have—for the first time—imaged a large number of exocomet belts around nearby stars, and the tiny pebbles within them. The crystal-clear images show light being emitted ...
Astronomy
Jan 17, 2025
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116
According to the most widely held astronomical model (the nebular hypothesis), new stars are born from massive clouds of dust and gas (aka a nebula) that experience gravitational collapse. The remaining dust and gas form ...
Astronomy
Jan 13, 2025
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36
Just as some children physically resemble their parents, many scientists have long thought that developing planets should resemble the swirling disk of gas and dust that births them.
Planetary Sciences
Dec 18, 2024
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85
Astronomers from Italy and Spain have used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to observe a massive protostar designated IRAS 20126+4104. The observational campaign, detailed in a paper published Dec. ...
The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope just solved a conundrum by proving a controversial finding made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope more than 20 years ago.
Astronomy
Dec 16, 2024
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98
The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) has successfully observed a site of planet formation by detecting a high concentration of dust grains, a planet-forming material, outside the orbits of just-formed planets.
Astronomy
Dec 13, 2024
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156
Using ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT), an international team of astronomers has inspected an icy protoplanetary disk of a young star known as PDS 453. Results of the new study, published on the preprint server arXiv, yield ...
Most stars form in collections, called clusters or associations, that include very massive stars. These giant stars send out large amounts of high-energy radiation, which can disrupt relatively fragile disks of dust and gas ...
Astronomy
Oct 28, 2024
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35
Newborn stars are surrounded by disks of gas and dust within which planets are born, known as protoplanetary disks. In the Orion Nebula, the brightest and most massive stars emit intense ultraviolet radiation that illuminates ...
Astronomy
Oct 28, 2024
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293
Every second, more than 3,000 stars are born in the visible universe. Many are surrounded by what astronomers call a protoplanetary disk—a swirling "pancake" of hot gas and dust from which planets form. The exact processes ...
Planetary Sciences
Oct 4, 2024
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130
