Tag Archive for 'Protoplanetary disk'

Hubble acquired this image of the circumstellar disk around Vega using the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS). Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / S. Wolff, University of Arizona / K. Su, University of Arizona / A. Gáspár, University of Arizona.

Hubble and Webb Take Closer Look at Planetary Debris Disk around Vega

Nov 1, 2024 by News Staff

There is no obvious evidence for one or more large exoplanets plowing through the face-on debris disk encircling Vega, one of the brightest stars in the...

In this new composite image, the Chandra data (purple) shows the diffuse X-ray emission and young stars in Cygnus OB2, and infrared data from NASA’s now-retired Spitzer Space Telescope (red, green, blue, and cyan) reveals young stars and the cooler dust and gas throughout the region. Image credit: NASA / CXC / SAO / Drake et al. / JPL-Caltech / Spitzer / N. Wolk.

X-Ray and UV Emissions Impact Protoplanetary Disks in Cygnus OB2, Astronomers Suggest

Oct 30, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Cygnus OB2 is the nearest massive young stellar association to our Sun. In this new composite image, the Chandra data (purple) shows the diffuse X-ray...

This artist’s impression displays TRAPPIST-1 and its planets reflected in a surface. Image credit: NASA / R. Hurt / T. Pyle.

TRAPPIST-1 System Was Formed in Two Steps, Study Suggests

Aug 21, 2024 by News Staff

TRAPPIST-1, an ultracool dwarf star located 38.8 light-years away in the constellation of Aquarius, hosts seven planets. The period ratios of neighboring...

This is an artist’s impression of a young star surrounded by a disk of gas and dust. Image credit: NASA / JPL.

Webb Detects Abundant Hydrocarbons in Protoplanetary Disk around Very-Low-Mass Star

Jun 6, 2024 by News Staff

Very-low-mass stars host orbiting rocky exoplanets more frequently than other types of stars. The compositions of those planets are largely unknown but...

This VLT/MUSE image shows the proplyd 177-341 W. Image credit: ESO / Aru et al., doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202349004.

MUSE Spots Bizarre Stellar Object with Illuminated Protoplanetary Disk

Jun 3, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile have imaged 177-341 W, a proplyd...

This Hubble image shows FS Tau, a multi-star system some 450 light-years away in the constellation of Taurus. Image credit: NASA / ESA / K. Stapelfeldt, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory / Gladys Kober, NASA / Catholic University of America.

Hubble Space Telescope Images Young Multi-Star System

Mar 29, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Jets emerge from the cocoon of the multi-star system FS Tau in the new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. This Hubble image shows FS Tau,...

Planet-forming disks around young stars and their location within the gas-rich cloud of Taurus, roughly 600 light-years from Earth. In total, the scientists observed 43 stars in the Taurus region, all of which are pictured here (though planet-forming disks were only detected in 39 of these targets). Image credit: ESO / Garufi et al. / IRAS.

VLT Finds Protoplanetary Disks around 86 Young Stars

Mar 5, 2024 by News Staff

New observations of 86 planet-forming disks provide astronomers with a wealth of data and unique insights into how planets arise in different regions of...

Berné et al. observed the far-ultraviolet-irradiated protoplanetary disk d203-506 in the Orion Nebula. Image credit: Berné et al., doi: 10.1126/science.adh2861.

UV Radiation from Massive Stars Shapes Nearby Planetary Systems

Feb 29, 2024 by News Staff

For decades, astronomers have known that the powerful light emitted by massive stars can disrupt the swirling planetary disk of dust and gas around young...

This ALMA image shows the water vapor (shades of blue) in the protoplanetary disk around HL Tauri; near the center of the disk, where the young star lives, the environment is hotter and the gas brighter; the red-hued rings are previous ALMA observations showing the distribution of dust around the star. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / Facchini et al.

ALMA Detects Water Vapor in Protoplanetary Disk around Young Star

Feb 29, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

The water molecule is a key ingredient in the formation of planetary systems. Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA)...

An artist’s impression of the massive star-forming region, with the planet-forming disk XUE 1 in the foreground. Image credit: Maria Cristina Fortuna, www.mariacristinafortuna.com.

Webb Detects Various Molecules in Extremely Irradiated Protoplanetary Disk

Dec 1, 2023 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have detected abundant water, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrogen cyanide and acetylene...

An artist’s impression of the giant exoplanet Kepler-1704b. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Neptune-Mass Exoplanet around Ultracool Dwarf Star Challenges Current Theories of Planet Formation

Nov 30, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Current theories predict that low-mass stars should rarely host planets with masses exceeding that of Neptune (17 Earth masses). An artist’s impression...

Rings of dust surrounding HL Tauri, with line patterns showing the orientation of polarized light. Image credit: NSF / AUI / NRAO / B. Saxton / Stephens et al.

ALMA Detects Dust Grains in Gaps of HL Tauri’s Protoplanetary Disk

Nov 21, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have captured a high-resolution image of HL Tauri, a young star in the constellation...

This composite image shows V960 Mon, a young star located over 5,000 light-years away in the constellation of Monoceros. Observations obtained using the Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch (SPHERE) instrument on ESO’s VLT, represented in yellow in this image, show that the dusty material orbiting V960 Mon is assembling together in a series of intricate spiral arms extending to distances greater than the entire Solar System. Meanwhile, the blue regions represent data obtained with ALMA. The ALMA data peers deeper into the structure of the spiral arms, revealing large dusty clumps that could contract and collapse to form giant planets roughly the size of Jupiter via a process known as gravitational instability. Image credit: ESO / ALMA / NAOJ / NRAO / Weber et al.

Astronomers See Signs of Planet Formation around V960 Mon

Jul 26, 2023 by News Staff

The formation of giant planets has traditionally been divided into two pathways: core accretion and gravitational instability. However, in recent years,...

This artist’s concept portrays PDS 70 and its inner protoplanetary disk. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / J. Olmsted, STScI.

Webb Detects Water in Terrestrial Planet-Forming Zone around PDS 70

Jul 25, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Terrestrial and sub-Neptune exoplanets are expected to form in the inner regions of protoplanetary disks around their parent stars. Water plays a key role...

This ALMA image shows the young planetary system PDS 70. The system features a star at its center, around which the planet PDS 70b (highlighted with a solid yellow circle) is orbiting. On the same orbit as PDS 70b, indicated by a solid yellow ellipse, Balsalobre-Ruza et al. detected a cloud of debris (circled by a yellow dotted line) that could be the building blocks of a new planet or the remnants of one already formed. The ring-like structure that dominates the image is a circumstellar disk of material, out of which planets are forming. There is in fact another planet in this system: PDS 70c, seen at 3 o’clock right next to the inner rim of the disk. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / Balsalobre-Ruza et al.

ALMA Detects Possible Trojan Protoplanet around PDS 70

Jul 20, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

PDS 70, a young K7-type star some 370 light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Centaurus, is a unique target for planetary formation studies...

This artist’s conception shows the Jupiter-like protoplanet HD 169142b interacting with and heating nearby molecular gas, driving outflows seen in several emission lines, including those from shock-tracing molecules like SO and SiS, and the commonly seen 12CO and 13CO. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / M. Weiss / AUI / NSF.

Astronomers Find Chemical Evidence for Planet Formation around HD 169142

Jun 28, 2023 by News Staff

Planets form in dusty, gas-rich circumstellar disks around young stars, while at the same time, the planet formation process alters the physical and chemical...

This image taken by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera shows a part of the Orion Nebula known as the Orion Bar. It is a region where energetic ultraviolet light from the Trapezium Cluster -- located off the upper-left corner -- interacts with dense molecular clouds. The energy of the stellar radiation is slowly eroding the Orion Bar, and this has a profound effect on the molecules and chemistry in the protoplanetary disks that have formed around newborn stars here. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / M. Zamani / PDRs4All ERS Team.

Webb Detects Crucial Carbon Molecule in Protoplanetary Disk

Jun 26, 2023 by News Staff

The vital role of a carbon molecule called methyl cation (CH3+) in interstellar carbon chemistry was predicted in the 1970s, but the unique capabilities...

This image, taken with Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), shows the dusty debris disk surrounding Fomalhaut A. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / A. Gáspár, University of Arizona / A. Pagan, STScI.

Webb Images Three Debris Belts around Fomalhaut A

May 9, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

New high-resolution images of the Fomalhaut A system from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope show three debris belts extending out to 23 billion...

An artist’s concept of a Neptunian Trojan asteroid. Image credit: NASA / ESA / G. Bacon, STScI / C. Fuentes, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

Neptunian Trojan Asteroids Exist in Broad Spectrum of Red Color, Astronomers Find

Mar 29, 2023 by News Staff

Neptunian Trojans are trans-Neptunian objects in 1:1 mean-motion resonance with the ice giant Neptune. These asteroids are generally thought to have been...

An artist’s impression of a gas-giant exoplanet. Image credit: Sci.News.

Low-Mass Stars are Able to Host Giant Jupiter-Like Exoplanets, Study Suggests

Mar 22, 2023 by News Staff

Gas giants, like other planets, form from protoplanetary disks of material around protostars. According to core accretion theory, they first form a core...

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