Credit: NASA, ESA, ESO, STScI, S. Andrews (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA), B. Saxton (NRAO/AUI/NSF), ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), T. Stolker et al.
Still-forming solar systems, known as planet-forming disks, come in a variety of shapes and sizes—and some show that bodies like forming planets may be clearing paths as they orbit the central stars. A research team led by Thomas Henning of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany, will survey more than 50 targets, including TW Hydrae (left), HD 135344B (center), and 2MASS J16281370 (right) using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. The observatory's capabilities in infrared light and its high-resolution data will allow them to very precisely model which elements and molecules are present, adding to our understanding of the makeup of these planet-forming disks.