Related papers: Disks around massive young stellar objects: are th…
The origin of disks surrounding young stars has direct implications for our understanding of the formation of planetary systems. In the interstellar clouds from which star form, angular momentum is regulated by magnetic fields, preventing…
Understanding the formation mechanisms of protoplanetary disks and multiple systems, and their pristine properties, is a key question for modern astrophysics. The properties of the youngest disks, embedded in rotating infalling protostellar…
The optically invisible infrared-source NGC 2264 IRS 1 is thought to be a massive young stellar object (~10 Msun). Although strong infrared excess clearly shows that the central object is surrounded by large amounts of circumstellar…
A detailed understanding of the physics of star and planet formation requires study of individual objects as well as statistical assessment of global properties and evolutionary trends. Observational investigations of circumstellar material…
We have identified four circumstellar disks with a deficit of dust emission from their inner 15-50 AU. All four stars have F-G spectral type, and were uncovered as part of the Spitzer Space Telescope ``Cores to Disks'' Legacy Program…
Near-IR polarimetric images of protoplanetary disks enable us to characterize substructures that might be due to the interaction with (forming) planets. The available census is strongly biased toward massive disks around old stars, however.…
We have completed a systematic survey for disks around young brown dwarfs and very low mass stars. By choosing a well-defined sample and by obtaining sensitive thermal IR observations, we can make an unbiased measurement of the disk…
The majority of stars are part of gravitationally bound stellar systems, such as binaries. Observations of protobinary systems constrain the conditions that lead to stellar multiplicity and subsequent orbital evolution. We report…
Few circumstellar disks have been directly observed. Here we use sensitive differential polarimetric techniques to overcome atmospheric speckle noise in order to image the circumstellar material around HD 169142. The detected envelope or…
We report on observations of circumstellar disks around young stars that have been obtained with the MIDI instrument, which is mounted on the VLT Interferometer and operates in the 10 micrometer atmospheric window. The maximum spatial…
Wide-field (~8' x 8') and deep near-infrared (JHKs bands) polarization images of the Orion nebulae (IRNe) around young stellar objects (YSOs), both massive and low-mass. We found the IRNe around both IRc2 and BN to be very extensive,…
We present a K-band atlas of 106 reflection nebulae, 41 of which are new discoveries. We observed these nebulae with the UH 2.2 m telescope in the course of an imaging survey of 197 objects that were selected to be nearby young Class I…
Circumstellar disks are expected to form early in the process that leads to the formation of a young star, during the collapse of the dense molecular cloud core. It is currently not well understood at what stage of the collapse the disk is…
We present theoretical continuum emission spectra (SED's), isophotal maps and line profiles for several models of photoevaporating disks at different orientations with respect to the observer. The hydrodynamic evolution of these models has…
We revisit the nature of large dips in flux from extinction by dusty circumstellar material that is observed by Kepler for many young stars in the Upper Sco and $\rho$ Oph star formation regions. These young, low-mass "dipper" stars are…
We review recent advances in our understanding of the innermost regions of the circumstellar environment around young stars, made possible by the technique of long baseline interferometry at infrared wavelengths. Near-infrared observations…
W33A is a well-known example of a high-mass young stellar object showing evidence of a circumstellar disc. We revisited the $K$-band NIFS/Gemini North observations of the W33A protostar using principal components analysis tomography and…
Observations of the Galactic Centre show evidence of disc-like structures of very young stars orbiting the central super-massive black hole within a distance of a few 0.1 pc. While it is widely accepted that about half of the stars form a…
Massive stars play an important role in many areas of astrophysics, but numerous details regarding their formation remain unclear. In this paper we present and analyse high resolution (R ~ 30,000) near-infrared 2.3 micron spectra of 20…
Debris discs around main sequence stars have been extensively characterised from infrared to millimetre wavelengths through imaging, spectroscopic, and total intensity (scattered light and/or thermal emission) measurements. Polarimetric…