# Press [### HARVARD PORTRAIT Karin Öberg ](/news/harvard-portrait-karin-%C3%B6berg) January 22, 2023 GROWING UP IN Lutheran Sweden, Karin Öberg had no inkling that she would one day become an astrochemist, the first to observe a complex organic molecule in the freezing cloud of gas and dust surrounding a young star—or that she would convert to... ![Karin Oberg headshot](/sites/g/files/omnuum6456/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/oberg/files/hm_jf23_art_page_12_image_0001.jpg?itok=ZqmLVwiU) [### A Circumplanetary Disk Candidate Spotted with ALMA ](/news/circumplanetary-disk-candidate-spotted-alma) August 10, 2022 Astronomers may have found a gaseous disk around a planet orbiting the young star AS 209. This is one of just four circumplanetary disk candidates discovered so far, and these observations enable the first mass estimate of a circumplanetary disk’s gas... ![This image of the AS 209 protoplanetary disk at a wavelength of 1.25 millimeters shows the thermal emission from the dust. The white line at the lower right is a 10-au scale bar and the white circle at the lower left is the beam size for the observations.](/sites/g/files/omnuum6456/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/oberg/files/apjlaaf741f3_hr.jpg?itok=sJgIkhFE) [### The James Webb Space Telescope will be astrochemists’ newest and most powerful tool ](/news/james-webb-space-telescope-will-be-astrochemists%E2%80%99-newest-and-most-powerful-tool) November 07, 2021 Delayed for more than a decade, the world’s next flagship space telescope will launch in December, giving scientists an unprecedented view of chemistry around the galaxy JWST will provide scientists with new ways to study gas-phase molecules in... ![planetary disk](/sites/g/files/omnuum6456/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/oberg/files/planetary_disk.jpg?itok=hnMOx0T_) [### Conditions That Triggered Life On Earth Could Exist More Widely Across The Milky Way Say Scientists In Landmark Study (Forbes) ](/news/conditions-triggered-life-earth-could-exist-more-widely-across-milky-way-say-scientists) September 16, 2021 The dust and gas where planets form have been mapped in extraordinary detail around five nearby young stars—and astronomers have found organic molecules that are implicated in the emergence of life on Earth. The findings suggest that the basic chemical... ![composite-image-of-alma-data-from-the-young-star-hd-163296-shows-hydrogen](/sites/g/files/omnuum6456/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/oberg/files/this-composite-image-of-alma-data-from-the-young-star-hd-163296-shows-hydrogen_960x0.jpg?itok=HlAou6TH) [### Planets Form in Organic Soups with Different Ingredients ](/news/planets-form-organic-soups-different-ingredients) September 15, 2021 Cambridge, MA -- Astronomers have mapped out the chemicals inside of planetary nurseries in extraordinary detail. The newly unveiled maps reveal the locations of dozens of molecules within five protoplanetary disks — regions of dust and gas where planets... ![In this artists conception, planets form from the gas and dust in the protoplanetary disk surrounding a young star.](/sites/g/files/omnuum6456/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/oberg/files/cfa-025-planetary_disk_ill_2pane_lores_0.jpg?itok=pH-b_agM) [### Karin Öberg’s Search for the Chemical Basis of Planet Formation ](/news/karin-%C3%B6berg%E2%80%99s-search-chemical-basis-planet-formation) July 28, 2021 With new tools offering an unprecedented view of a planet’s molecular building blocks, astrochemists are working to pin down the recipe for a habitable world. [https://www.simonsfoundation.org/2021/07/28/karin-obergs-search-for-the…](https://www.simonsfoundation.org/2021/07/28/karin-obergs-search-for-the-chemical-basis-of-planet)... description [### A Conversation with Karin Öberg ](/news/conversation-karin-%C3%B6berg) July 15, 2021 The Harvard astrochemist discusses how reactions on icy dust grains shape solar systems. description [### The evolving chemistry of protoplanetary disks ](/news/evolving-chemistry-protoplanetary-disks) September 11, 2020 Planets form from the gas and dust in disks that surround young stars. Chemicals in the disk that evaporate easily, called volatiles, include important molecules like water, carbon monoxide, nitrogen, as well as other simple organic molecules. The amount... ![An artist's conception of a planet-forming, circumstellar disk around a young star.](/sites/g/files/omnuum6456/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/oberg/files/theevolvingc.jpg?itok=462LyLDE) [### ALMA Captures Stirred-Up Planet Factory ](/news/alma-captures-stirred-planet-factory) August 03, 2020 In recent years, high resolution observations of dust structures have revolutionized our understanding of planet formation. However, this new image of the gas indicates that the current view of planet formation is still too simplistic and that it might be... ![ALMA image of the planet-forming disk around the young star RU Lup.](/sites/g/files/omnuum6456/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/oberg/files/rulup_bluecutout_07092020_sd-768x505.jpg?itok=RyOcclB8) [### Formalde-hyde and Seek ](/news/formalde-hyde-and-seek) August 01, 2020 Title: An ALMA Survey of H2CO in Protoplanetary Disks Authors: Jamila Pegues, Karin Oberg, J. Bergner et al. First Author Institution: Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian Open access arXiv closed access on ApJ Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV... ![gas-ice diagram](/sites/g/files/omnuum6456/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/oberg/files/gasice-768x478.png?itok=PDS-TVwA) [### Öberg's presentation on the MAPS project @ Exoplanets III ](/news/%C3%B6bergs-presentation-maps-project-exoplanets-iii) July 28, 2020 ![MAPS project showing how 5 discs with internal structures appear in various molecules](/sites/g/files/omnuum6456/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/oberg/files/eebw-bmueamii3-.png?itok=EeYeY5QP) [### Professor Karin Öberg Named 2020 Simons Investigator Recipient ](/news/professor-karin-%C3%B6berg-named-2020-simons-investigator-recipient) July 01, 2020 Karin Öberg, Professor of Astronomy , has been named a 2020 Simons Investigator recipient for her work on the role of chemistry during planet formation. She combines theory, astronomical observations and experiments to explore the chemical environments... description Show morerefresh