"James Webb Space Telescope Expands Search for Forming Planets in Distant Solar Systems"

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is being used to hunt for planets forming around infant stars by observing protoplanetary disks. The telescope's sensitive infrared instruments have revealed interactions between the disks and gas envelopes closer to the stars. Unexpectedly, the team led by scientists from the University of Michigan, the University of Arizona, and the University of Victoria found signals of a forming planet in the protoplanetary disk around the protostar SAO 206462, but it wasn't the planet they were expecting to see. Similar investigations into other protoplanetary disks have provided valuable insights into the formation of planets around young stars, shedding light on how materials are distributed across young systems and refining theories about planet formation and evolution.