Astronomers’ industrial espionage | Max-Planck-Gesellschaft https://www.mpg.de/17471408/astronomers-industrial-espionage
Using radio data from the ALMA observatory and physical modelling, astronomers led by Kamber Schwarz (Max Planck Institute for Astronomy and University of Arizona) have managed to determine the mass of a potential “planet factory,” the protoplanetary disk around the star GM Aurigae. From their reconstruction, which includes a determination of the disk’s temperature profile, the astronomers deduce that the factory may just have started production: in an unstable region, conditions should be right to form a giant gas planet. The results showcase the increasing ability of astronomers to probe physical properties of planet formation as it happens.
Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, are an impressive demonstration