Associate Professor Sarah Maddison of Swinburne’s Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, 2010

By carving ‘gaps’ in the disks of dust that create and enshroud them, newborn planets are giving astronomers clues to locating possible new worlds. An international research team, led by Associate Professor Sarah Maddison, is studying the disks of dust that enfold newborn planets in order to better understand cosmic birth. Because dust obscures optical light, astronomers need to look for other ways to identify the presence of unseen planets in the dusty disks around young stars. A new planet’s existence can be inferred from the behaviour of the dust (and gas) around it; much as a ship’s presence might be inferred from its wake on the ocean by an observer flying high above. To help spot newborn planets, Maddison’s team has assembled a complex supercomputer model that simulates what happens when a planet is embedded in the disks of dust and gas that surround young stars. Photograph appeared in the Media Centre Release: ‘Disks of dust point to cosmic births’ on 15 November 2010