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.
The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) has uncovered a key piece of the puzzle in how rocky planets, such as Earth, form around young stars. For decades, scientists have struggled to explain how dust grains ...
Planetary Sciences
Jun 12, 2025
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44
An international team of astronomers led by the University of Galway has discovered the likely site of a new planet in formation, most likely a gas giant planet up to a few times the mass of Jupiter.
Astronomy
Jun 9, 2025
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201
Star and planet formation has largely been considered separate, sequential processes. But in a new study, scientists at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) have modeled a different scenario where planets start developing ...
Planetary Sciences
Jun 9, 2025
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114
Astronomers have found a rare form of methanol, a type of alcohol, in a planet-forming disk, providing a critical step in understanding how life beyond Earth may form. This result reveals vital details about the chemical ...
Astrobiology
Jun 5, 2025
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130
A team of international astronomers led by Richard Teague, the Kerr-McGee Career Development Professor in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS), has gathered the most sensitive and detailed observations ...
Planetary Sciences
May 22, 2025
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168
A small international team of astronomers has confirmed that a binary star system with an odd signal has a companion—a planet roughly twice the size of Jupiter, which may have emerged from a circumbinary orbit or from a second-generation ...
Understanding Jupiter's early evolution helps illuminate the broader story of how our solar system developed its distinct structure. Jupiter's gravity, often called the "architect" of our solar system, played a critical role ...
Astronomy
May 20, 2025
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2280
For decades, astronomers have discovered hundreds of protoplanetary disks—structures believed to represent the early stages of our own solar system. However, most of these discoveries lie within our neighborhood, which may ...
Astronomy
May 15, 2025
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83
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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74
Many protoplanetary disks in which new planets are formed are much smaller than thought. Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) scientists of the Leiden Observatory (the Netherlands) looked at 73 protoplanetary ...
Astronomy
Mar 26, 2025
0
122
