Astronomers reveal a new phenomenon dubbed the 'rocking shadow' effect that describes how discs in forming planetary systems are oriented, and how they move around their host star. The effect also ...

Roughly 5 billion years ago Earth was in the process of forming. Gas and dust gathered with the young sun's protoplanetary disk, likely nudged a bit by the resonant gravitational pull of Jupiter and ...

Typically protoplanetary disks and the stars that they encircle are modelled as isolated systems. However, extended gaseous structures (for instance, streamers) have been observed around such disks, ...

In the surroundings of a young star located 444 light years away, a team of astronomers found what may be the precursor to life itself. Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in ...

Astronomers have long struggled to find young planets hidden inside the thick clouds of gas and dust that swirl around new stars. These swirling clouds—called protoplanetary discs—are the birthplaces ...

Observations of polarized thermal emission from dust grains in the protoplanetary disk around the HD 142527 protostar suggest that in part of the disk the polarization is caused by the magnetic field.

Still from a simulation of a forming planetary disk. The images show the rotating inner disk along the top half, and the shadow it casts on the outer disk in the lower half. CREDIT Rebecca Nealon / ...