Often science is a competition. Being first is sometimes important to get the well deserved credit for your work. Circumplanetary disks are currently a topic, in which you can still be first, since none has been detected so far. But is the current generation of telescopes already good enough to do that?
Stars formed in the early Universe were extremely massive and extremely low in elements heavier than helium. The transition from the first to the second generation of stars is still hidden in the shadows of the past. However, simulations of the most massive supernovae can help us to decipher the way of how the life cycle of stars came into being.
Stars form via gravitational collapse of molecular cloud cores. But observations reveal that far less gas is turned into stars than you would suspect by naively calculating the star formation rate. So what can we do about this mismatch?
Earth’s oceans may have originated mainly from accreted impactors. But do planets in other systems experience the same water delivery mechanism? Or do they even get more water than our world? Find out why you would want to think about this and what the consequences might be.
Why do planetary disks fade away so fast? A leading candidate as villain in this story is turbulence. Using the combined strengths of sophisticated theoretical models and observations, we might be able to find out if this is true!