Colloquim – Jaehan Bae – Witnessing the formation of giant planets and their moons

Speaker: Jaehan Bae (University of Florida)

Title: Witnessing the formation of giant planets and their moons

Abstract:

With over 5,000 exoplanets discovered, it is clear that planet formation is a robust and widespread process. However, the astonishing diversity between observed exoplanetary systems suggests that environmental factors – the physical conditions present during birth of the planets – could influence the characteristics and architecture of the resulting planetary systems. The most direct way to test this hypothesis is to detect and characterize young planets at the time they are forming within their birth protoplanetary disks. The task of observing young, forming planets has long been very challenging, but it has finally become possible with increasingly powerful observing facilities and techniques. In this talk, I will (1) introduce recent high-resolution observations of protoplanetary disks, (2) show how state-of-the-art observations, along with theories and numerical simulations, can help us better understand planet formation processes, and (3) discuss future directions.

Host: Chao-Chin Yang