Mugged by a Passing Star
A close encounter with another star can disrupt the protoplanetary disk of a young star, leaving a smaller disk behind. Can we learn anything about the encounter from the size of the remaining disk? Read on to find out!
Stellar Flybys and Damping Disks: How to Excite an Exoplanet
Close encounters with a passing star can excite a planet into an eccentric or inclined orbit. But a circumstellar disk can damp a planet’s eccentricity and inclination. Who wins? Find out when the authors of this paper model a stellar flyby with two circumstellar disks!
Planet or Brown Dwarf? How to Measure the Mass of a Companion You Can’t See
The mass of a substellar companion can help determine whether it’s a planet or a brown dwarf. But how can you measure the mass of a companion that you can’t detect directly? Look at the disk!
Gas and Dust in a Protoplanetary Disk: Turning 2D Data into 3D Models
There’s a lot going on in the HD 142527 protoplanetary disk — accretion, gap opening, and a horseshoe-shaped dust ring. The authors of this paper used ALMA to take a closer look at the gas and dust in this busy disk.
An Odd Man Out: The Case of 49 Ceti
The disk around 49 Ceti is known to show characteristics of both protoplanetary and debris disks. New observations with Herschel reveal that it is likely a debris disk with gas generated by evaporating comets.
Herschel Diagnoses Protoplanetary Dust, Finds it Iron-Deficient
Spectroscopy with Herschel can probe the dust in the heart of protoplanetary disks through the 69 micron feature of forsterite. Examining these features in detail reveals that the dust grains are small, iron poor, and confined to narrow rings.