L. B. F. M. Waters

Around young stars, disks of gas and dust swirl: these are the construction sites for future planets. In the binary system HD 142527, such a disk is especially intriguing. Astronomers aimed three instruments working in the infrared range (thermal emission from dust) at it and saw a surprising picture.

In a blazing foundry, any ice cube would vanish instantly. But tucked inside a thick mitten, it survives. Nature pulled a similar trick in the planetary nebula NGC 6302.

When an exoplanet briefly eclipses its star, starlight passes through its air and absorbs its chemical taste. This technique, the transit method, is the core of how the James Webb telescope works.