Astronomers observe chaotic planet‑forming region

Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope said on December 23, 2025 they had imaged the largest protoplanetary disk yet seen around a young star, a structure so large and irregular that researchers described it as unusually chaotic. The system, cataloged as IRAS 23077+6707 and nicknamed “Dracula’s Chivito,” lies about 1,000 light-years from Earth. Hubble’s visible-light images showed bright wisps and filaments extending far above and below the disk, with more extended structures visible on only one side. The observations were published in *The Astrophysical Journal* and released by NASA and the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. ### Which object did astronomers observe? IRAS 23077+6707 is a young-star system surrounded by an edge-on disk of gas and dust where planets could form, according to NASA and the paper’s authors. The nickname “Dracula’s Chivito” comes from the backgrounds of two researchers — one from Transylvania and one from Uruguay, where a chivito is a sandwich — and refers to the object’s layered appearance in the image. (science.nasa.gov) The disk obscures the central star, which scientists said may be either a hot, massive star or a pair of stars. Because the system is viewed nearly edge-on, Hubble was able to trace the upper and lower layers of scattered dust in visible light at high resolution. ### How large is the planet-forming disk? The disk spans nearly 400 billion miles, or about 4,200 astronomical units, making it roughly 40 times the diameter of the solar system out to the Kuiper Belt, NASA and the Center for Astrophysics said. (science.nasa.gov) That makes it the largest protoplanetary disk yet identified, according to those releases. (cfa.harvard.edu) The Hubble image showed a structure about 14 arcseconds across at a distance of roughly 300 parsecs, the paper said. Those measurements match the scale cited in NASA’s release and in the researchers’ abstract. ### What made the images look chaotic? Hubble’s images revealed a “rich tapestry of substructures,” including asymmetries and filament-like features, according to the paper. (science.nasa.gov) The authors said the disk’s upper layers look disturbed rather than smooth, and they reported that no comparable southern features were seen where northern structures were visible. Kristina Monsch of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, the lead author, said in material quoted by Phys.org that “planet nurseries can be much more active and chaotic than we expected.” NASA’s release similarly described the environment as unexpectedly turbulent in visible light. (assets.science.nasa.gov) ### Why does the edge-on view matter here? The Hubble team said the near edge-on angle — about 80 degrees — gave astronomers an unusually clear view of the disk’s vertical structure. (iopscience.iop.org) Instead of seeing mainly rings or gaps from above, researchers could examine how dust is distributed above and below the disk plane. NASA said that perspective made IRAS 23077+6707 a useful laboratory for studying how planetary systems form in extreme environments. (phys.org) That conclusion was framed by the researchers as an opportunity to test how gas and dust behave in a very large, irregular disk rather than in a more compact and symmetric one. ### Where were the findings released? (arxiv.org) The findings were published in *The Astrophysical Journal* on December 23, 2025 under the title *Hubble reveals complex multi-scale structure in the edge-on protoplanetary disk IRAS 23077+6707*. NASA, the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio released images and supporting material the same day. NASA’s public materials and the journal paper remain the main sources for the images, measurements and author list, including lead author Kristina Monsch and collaborators from the Center for Astrophysics, Caltech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and other institutions. (cfa.harvard.edu) (assets.science.nasa.gov) (arxiv.org)