ERC Advanced Grant · 2024
Deciphering the building blocks of rocky planets using JWST spectra of planet forming disks
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) now peers for the first time into the rocky planet birth environments around Solar-type (T Tauri - TT) and Very Low Mass stars (VLMS) with ages of 1-4 Myr. The data shows that disk gas around TT stars is oxygen-rich, while it is carbon-rich around VLMS; yet they formed inside the same molecular cloud. VLMS are the most abundant stars in the galaxy, hosting most rocky exoplanets known to date, making them key targets to search for life. Yet today, it is paramount that we understand what causes this apparent difference, and the implications for the composition of forming planets and their evolution. JWST mid-infrared spectra contain a forest of molecular…
From the public funding record at EU CORDIS. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.