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New Dust-Ring Technique Weighs Infant Planets, Validates PDS 70C

5/29/2026

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Summary

Story summary

Amena Faruqi, a Warwick astronomer, led a team that devised a dust-ring method to weigh newborn planets.
They derived an equation linking planet mass to the brightest-point location, applicable to any wavelength or dust type.
The equation recovered planet PDS 70C’s mass in the PDS 70 system, matching prior estimates.
MIT co-author Jessic Speedie said the method is ready for use after applying it to five exoALMA disks to estimate planet masses.

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Story summary

Amena Faruqi, a Warwick astronomer, led a team that devised a dust-ring method to weigh newborn planets.
They derived an equation linking planet mass to the brightest-point location, applicable to any wavelength or dust type.
The equation recovered planet PDS 70C’s mass in the PDS 70 system, matching prior estimates.
MIT co-author Jessic Speedie said the method is ready for use after applying it to five exoALMA disks to estimate planet masses.