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Double the Disks, Double the Discovery: New Insights into Planet Formation in DF Tau

Double the Disks, Double the Discovery: New Insights into Planet Formation in DF Tau

Tucked away in a star-forming region in the Taurus constellation, a pair of circling stars are displaying some unexpected differences in the circumstellar disks of dust and gas that surround them. A new study led by researchers at Lowell Observatory, combining data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and Keck Observatory, has unveiled intriguing findings about planet formation in this binary star system, known as DF Tau, along with other systems in this region.

Young Stars in the Milky Way’s Backyard Challenge Our Understanding of How They Form

Young Stars in the Milky Way’s Backyard Challenge Our Understanding of How They Form

Astronomers have made groundbreaking discoveries about young star formation in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), along with observations from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). The study, published in The Astrophysical Journal, gives new insight into the early stages of massive star formation outside our galaxy.

ALMA Reveals Planets Can Form Under Harsh Radiation

ALMA Reveals Planets Can Form Under Harsh Radiation

An international team of astronomers used ALMA to capture high-resolution images of eight protoplanetary disks in the Sigma Orionis cluster, which is irradiated by intense ultraviolet light from a massive nearby star. To their surprise, they found evidence of gaps and rings in most of the disks—structures commonly associated with the formation of giant planets, like Jupiter.