A far-ultraviolet-driven photoevaporation flow observed in a protoplanetary disk.

Most low-mass stars form in stellar clusters that also contain massive stars, which are sources of far-ultraviolet (FUV) radiation. Theoretical models predict that this FUV radiation produces photodissociation regions (PDRs) on the surfaces of protoplanetary disks around low-mass stars, which affects planet formation within the disks. We report James Webb Space Telescope and Atacama Large Millimeter Array observations of a FUV-irradiated protoplanetary disk in the Orion Nebula.

The cycling of carbon into and out of dust.

Observational evidence seems to indicate that the depletion of interstellar carbon into dust shows rather wide variations and that carbon undergoes rather rapid recycling in the interstellar medium (ISM). Small hydrocarbon grains are processed in photo-dissociation regions by UV photons, by ion and electron collisions in interstellar shock waves and by cosmic rays. A significant fraction of hydrocarbon dust must therefore be re-formed by accretion in the dense, molecular ISM.