Astronomers Uncover New Insights on Planet Formation with SPAM

Astronomers at the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaiʻi have made significant strides in understanding how planets form by observing the dusty regions around young stars. Their latest study focuses on the star HD 34282, located approximately 400 light-years from Earth. This research is part of a broader initiative known as The Search for Protoplanets with Aperture Masking, or SPAM, which aims to provide deeper insights into the early stages of planetary development.

The research team utilized the observatory’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRC2), enabling them to investigate regions closer to the star than traditional imaging can allow. The surrounding disk of dust and gas is considered a “transition disk,” a structure believed to be shaped by the gravitational influence of forming planets. Christina Vides, a graduate student at the University of California Irvine and lead author of the study published in The Astrophysical Journal, expressed the importance of this research, stating, “We all want to know where we came from and how our solar system formed.”

Exploring Planetary Nurseries

The team captured unprecedented details of the inner region of HD 34282‘s disk, revealing clumpy structures and brightness variations indicative of potential planet formation. Although the team did not detect any confirmed protoplanets, their observations provide crucial constraints on where a young planet might be located. Additionally, they gathered important data regarding the star’s mass and accretion rate, which are essential for modeling how material in the disk could evolve into planets.

Detecting protoplanets is notoriously challenging, with only two confirmed instances recorded to date: PDS 70 b and PDS 70 c, both of which were directly imaged in 2020 using the same NIRC2 instrument. Each new observation contributes valuable knowledge to the ongoing quest to unravel the mysteries of planetary system formation. “This work is pushing the boundaries of what we can see,” Vides noted, highlighting the capabilities of the observatory’s adaptive optics and masking technologies that allow astronomers to resolve features mere astronomical units from the star, areas typically invisible to other methods.

Future Endeavors

The research team plans to continue their investigations with Keck’s advanced instruments, focusing on additional young stars that exhibit promising disk characteristics. They are also preparing for future observations with new technologies, including the SCALES imager, which is expected to enhance the search for protoplanets with unprecedented clarity.

“Every new system we study helps us understand a little more about how planets form and evolve,” Vides added. The ability to observe conditions capable of giving rise to new worlds from hundreds of light-years away underscores the significant advancements in astronomical research and technology.

For more details on this research, refer to the study by Christina L. Vides and colleagues, “NIRC2 Interferometric Imaging of the HD 34282 Transition Disk’s Small Grain Structure,” published in The Astrophysical Journal on November 5, 2025.