Evolution in the Stellar Nursery
Do baby stars like it hot or cold? Learning about the dusty environments where stars are born.
Dust and the Occult
Pairs of occulting galaxies allow for the dust in galaxies to be mapped very accurately and give insight into the attenuation law in the outskirts of galaxies.
Spins in Protoplanetary Discs
Today we have a guest post from Arazi Pinhas about the spins of protoplanetary disks.
Where to Look for Baby Planets
Baby planets still living in their natal disks don’t want astronomers to find and take pictures of them. But that doesn’t mean we can’t try!
Dust Does Not Follow Gas
Molecular clouds, where new stars are born, are made of two components: gas and dust. The gas is mostly hydrogen, and the dust is made of elements crucial for forming planets and people, like silicon and carbon. Today’s paper shows that these two components behave very differently in a simulated molecular cloud. This could have exciting consequences for the growth of dust and the formation of stars and planets.
Missing Spirals and Forming Planets
Last year, an image was released that took our breath away. Exquisite rings carved in a disk of material around a nearby star. Now, astronomers want to know if forming planets are responsible, and why the image might look different from the cartoon in your textbook.