Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser
Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have found telltale differences between the gaps in the gas and the dust in disks around four young stars. These new observations are the clearest indications yet that planets with masses several times that of Jupiter have recently formed in these disks. This schematic diagram shows how the dust (brown) and gas (blue) is distributed around the star, and how a young planet is clearing the central gap.