17 February 2011

Speaker: Josh Eisner (Univ. of Arizona)

Title:Probing Star and Planet Formation: Gas and Dust within 1 AU of Young Stars

Abstract: Planetary systems form out of disks of dust and gas that are remnants of the star formation process. The structure of these protoplanetary disks within 1 AU of their central stars has important implications for terrestrial planet formation, giant planet migration, and disk accretion. I will present spatially and spectrally resolved observations of gas and dust within 1 AU of young stars, with a focus on hydrogen gas at stellocentric radii smaller than a tenth of an AU. I will describe the new instrumentation and techniques that enabled these measurements.

Video of the Presentation (Talks can be viewed with RealPlayer. Free download is available from www.real.com )