How worlds are born: JWST reveals exotic chemistry of planetary nurseries

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has turned its gaze to several planet-forming swirls of gas and dust surrounding young stars. Two of these ‘protoplanetary’ disks had large amounts of liquid water that can serve as a raw ingredient for planets forming. Another contained a surprisingly large amount of carbon, which could allow newly born planets to sweep up diverse ingredients. In the debris disc around the star Beta Pictoris, scientists discovered a ‘cat’s tail’ of dust that is probably the aftermath of a massive collision.