What is the cause of this anomaly? A body of evidence suggests the presence of giant planets in the process of forming. This study, involving scientists from the Grenoble Institute of Planetology and Astrophysics (IPAG-CNRS/UGA), was published in the journal *Astronomy & Astrophysics* on June 1, 2026. It sheds new light on the mechanisms of planet formation and the complex dynamics of protoplanetary disks.
Thanks to the unique capabilities of the Sphere instrument1 in the near-infrared and its exceptional spatial resolution, the team was able to precisely track the disk’s structures and their evolution across three observations collected over a four-year period. The scientists identified a bright structure characteristic of accretion zones, where gas and dust accumulate and fall onto a forming object. This phenomenon is particularly involved in the formation of gas giant planets. Images of the AB Aurigae disk2 also reveal the rapid rotation of faint shadows cast onto the surface by invisible structures—potentially protoplanets (planets in the making) or clumps of opaque dust—orbiting close to the star.
These results, which are more complex than predicted by theoretical models, underscore the importance of continuing research to directly detect the properties of the protoplanets or clumps responsible for the structures observed in the AB Aurigae disk.
