Planet Formation at Solar System Scales with the James Webb Space Telescope

像我们这样的行星系统形成于新生恒星周围巨大的原始气体和尘埃盘中。该项目将用詹姆斯·韦伯太空望远镜观测跨越一系列年龄的这种盘，以揭示行星形成盘本身的详细现场物理学。我们将利用航天器上唯一由澳大利亚设计的仪器：孔径掩蔽干涉仪，提供天文学上有史以来最清晰的红外图像。这为活跃生长的原行星、圆盘中的雕刻环和间隙以及剩余彗星碎片的引力雕刻图案提供了新的物理学。将这些数据与最先进的模型进行比较，将立即产生对行星系统形成的深刻见解，包括我们自己的行星系统。

Planetary systems like our own form within vast disks of primordial gas and dust around newborn stars. This project will observe such disks spanning a range of ages with the James Webb Space Telescope to reveal the detailed in-situ physics of planet-forming disks themselves. We will deliver the sharpest-ever infrared images in astronomy, exploiting the only Australian-designed instrument on the spacecraft: the Aperture Masking Interferometer. This yields new physics for actively growing protoplanets, carved rings and gaps in disks, and gravitationally sculpted patterns of leftover cometary debris. Confronting state-of-the-art models with these data will immediately yield profound insights into planetary system formation, including our own.