Planet-forming disks

Exoplanets

Webb Shows Planets Really Do Start with Pebbles

New observations have turned up evidence that icy pebbles deliver the water to inner regions of planet-forming disks.

Explosive forming stars

Stellar Science

Astronomy in Pictures: The Birth of Stars and Planets

Images capture the birth of stars and planets in multiple results from space- and ground-based telescopes.

Cutaway diagram of protoplanetary disk, which flares out away from star

Solar System

Water on Earth Might Predate the Solar System

Astronomers studying the water vapor around a newborn star find that it’s chemically similar to ice in solar system comets, a possible source of Earth’s oceans.

a large orange org against a brown background with clouds and a distant light

Exoplanets

Hot and Cold: Jupiters Reveal Formation and Chemistry of Exotic Worlds

At the extremes: A hot Jupiter reveals extreme chemistry on a sizzling world, and a cold Jupiter sheds light on giant planet formation.

Dust and gas of Elias 2-27's disk shown in composite

Exoplanets

Gravitationally Unstable Disk May Collapse to Form Planets

Astronomers investigate the spiral arms of a young star's disk and find evidence of a disk so massive that it could collapse to form planets.