Across the Milky Way and beyond, planetary systems appear to fall into a few recurring blueprints, and recent exoplanet surveys suggest that just four layouts may dominate the universe. Drawing on ...

Simulation of the disk in the 2MASS1612 system. The planet is seen as a bright dot in the simulation that circles the central star within the gap of the disk. The planet drives the spiral arms seen in ...

Still from a simulation of a forming planetary disk. The images show the rotating inner disk along the top half, and the shadow it casts on the outer disk in the lower half. CREDIT Rebecca Nealon / ...

Apr 29, 2025 New discovery changes views on star and planet formation A new study is challenging the understanding of planetary disk formation around young stars. It reveals that the environment plays ...

A planet-forming disk with more water than all of Earth's oceans has been discovered. The disk, which is located in the constellation Taurus, is 450 light-years away from Earth. Astronomers used the ...