The TW Hydrae system is located 200 light-years away and is currently undergoing planetary formation, making it an ideal location for studying the process.

Planets form from large disks of dust and gas that accumulate around their host stars over billions of years.

The TW Hydrae system has a peculiar formation, with three stacked disks creating complex patterns of shadows.

In 2017, astronomers first observed a strange shadow on the disk of dust and gas surrounding the star.

The shadow's shape and movement suggested that it was from a second disk, located within the first disk and tilted at a different angle.

Researchers used data from the Hubble Space Telescope collected in 2021 to observe the system and found that the shadow was different from what they expected.

They discovered that the most likely explanation for the observations is two misaligned disks within a third, larger disk, making the system much more complex than originally thought.

To learn more, the powerful infrared vision of the James Webb Space Telescope could be used to observe the shadows in more detail.

The research on the TW Hydrae system is published in The Astrophysical Journal.

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