Early Evolution of Planetary Disk Structures Seen for the First Time

An international team of astronomers have found ring and spiral structures in very young planetary disks, demonstrating that planet formation may begin much earlier than once thought. The results were presented today at the 243rd Meeting of the American Astronomical Society.

Artist's impression of a stream of gas being pulled away from a protoplanetary disk by an intruder object.

ALMA Catches “Intruder” Redhanded in Rarely Detected Stellar Flyby Event

Scientists using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) made a rare detection of a likely stellar flyby event in the Z Canis Majoris (Z CMa) star system. An intruder—not bound to the system—object came in close proximity to and interacted with the environment surrounding the binary protostar, causing the formation of chaotic, stretched-out streams of dust and gas in the disk surrounding it.

Artist Impression of salt in protoplanetary disk
Artist impression of protoplanets forming around a young star.

Trio of Infant Planets Discovered around Newborn Star

Two independent teams of astronomers have uncovered convincing evidence that three young planets are in orbit around an infant star known as HD 163296. Using a new planet-finding strategy, the astronomers identified three discrete disturbances in a young star’s gas-filled disk: the strongest evidence yet that newly formed planets are in orbit there.