James Webb Space Telescope Feed Post

Harvard ADS: Protoplanetary disk chemistry and structure

Paper abstract: Knowledge of the composition of material that will form planets is crucial to understand planetary diversity and the occurrence of potentially habitable planets. Ultimately, it is the chemistry in circumstellar disks that determines the global make up of planetary systems, as the dust in these disks grows into giant planet cores and rocky planets, the gas becomes incorporated in giant planet atmospheres, and the ices can be delivered to rocky planets by comets and meteorites. With the advent of ALMA a decade ago and the recent launch of JWST, the composition of the disk gas and ice can now be studied in great detail. This review will provide an overview of our current knowledge of the disk chemical structure, focusing on the six elements essential to life on Earth: carbon (C), hydrogen (H), nitrogen (N), oxygen (O), phosphorus (P) and sulfur (S).