Free Astronomy Magazine September-October 2023

48 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2023 ASTRO PUBLISHING protoplanetary disks that have been studied in detail with ALMA, but until now there had been no system- atic study to search for signs of planet formation in younger proto- stellar systems. The origins of our solar system and extrasolar planetary systems is one of the most important themes in modern astronomy. Our Sun formed about 4.6 billion years ago and all Sun-like stars from through a similar process. As part of this process, a disk forms around the newborn star and within these disks planets will form. These protoplanetary disks are ex- pected to only last a few million years, meaning that a forming plan- etary system only has this amount of time to finish its formation. How- ever, it is still not clear just how rap- idly planet formation begins within their disks. Recent ALMA observations have re- vealed that many protoplanetary disks have substructures such as gaps and rings. This is strong evidence that planets are forming and sweep- ing up material from the disk. On the other hand, many proto-plane- ALMA digs deeper into the mystery of planet formation by ALMA Observatory Nicolás Lira A n international research team used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillime- ter Array (ALMA) to observe disks around 19 protostars with a very high resolution to search for the ear- liest signs of planet formation. This survey, called “Early Planet Forma- tion in Embedded Disks (eDisk)” and led by Nagayoshi Ohashi at Acade- mia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics (ASIAA, Taiwan), was motivated by the recent find- ings that planet formation may be well-underway in the more-evolved