Reminder: Today, PHYSICS COLLOQUIUM
Speaker: E. van Dishoeck, Leiden
Title: From Molecules to Planets
Date / Time: Wednesday, January 22, 2003, 16:45 h (tea starts at 16:15 h)
Place / Room: HPH G4
Abstract:
Stars and planetary systems are born deep inside molecular clouds of gas and dust. The detection of nearly 100 exo-solar planets around nearby stars shows that the formation of gas-rich giant planets is common. But how do these planets form? Although it is commonly accepted that they originate in the circumstellar disks around young stars, little is known about the physical and chemical processes in such regions. Only long wavelength observations are able to probe deep inside these stellar and planetary nurseries. In this talk, an overview will be given of recent developments in the area of star- and planet formation, with emphasis on the wealth of spectroscopic results. The evolution of the gas and dust from molecular clouds to protostars and forming planetary systems will be traced using recent examples from submillimeter and mid-infrared telescopes. The need for future high sensitivity, high angular resolution observations such as will be provided by the Atacama Large Millimeter Array and the James Webb Space telescope will be emphasized.
With best regards, C. Aurelio