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“Protoplanetary Disk Structure at High Resolution: A Glimpse at the Planet Formation Process” Dr. Sean Andrews Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics |
| With the growing number of planetary systems found around other stars, attention is increasingly focused on the origins of the Solar System and others like it. Observations of the reservoirs of planet-building material -- the disks around young stars -- play a critical role in understanding planet formation mechanisms and their efficiencies. Because of their sensitivity to the amount and structure of this raw material, resolved data at sub-millimeter wavelengths provide unique access to the physical conditions in these disks, including in particular the spatial distribution of mass. I will describe some state-of-the-art measurements of disk structure that can yield a glimpse at the initial conditions available for assembling a planetary system. |