Related papers: First Results from the Disk Eclipse Search with KE…
We examine changes in the molecular abundances resulting from increased heating due to a self-luminous planetary companion embedded within a narrow circumstellar disk gap. Using 3D models that include stellar and planetary irradiation, we…
A large fraction of stars is found to be part of binary or higher-order multiple systems. The ubiquity of planets found around single stars raises the question if and how planets in binary systems may form. Protoplanetary disks are the…
Kant and Laplace suggested the Solar System formed from a rotating gaseous disk in the 18th century, but convincing evidence that young stars are indeed surrounded by such disks was not presented for another 200 years. As we move into the…
Recent advances in astronomical instrumentation mean that we are now able to image the thermal emission from the disks of dust around main sequence stars that may be the fossil remnants of planetary formation. These observations imply that…
Binary systems are a common site of planet formation, despite the destructive effects of the binary on the disk. While surveys of planet forming material have found diminished disk masses around medium separation ($\sim$10--100 au)…
The study of protoplanetary disks has become increasingly important with the Kepler satellite finding that exoplanets are ubiquitous around stars in our galaxy and the discovery of enormous diversity in planetary system architectures and…
The architectures of exoplanet systems are likely set during the initial planet-formation phase in the circumstellar disk. To understand this process, we have to study the earliest phases of planet formation. Complex sub-structures,…
Cold debris disks (T$<$200 K) are analogues to the dust in the Solar System's Kuiper belt--dust generated from the evaporation and collision of minor bodies perturbed by planets, our Sun, and the local interstellar medium. Scattered light…
We present new Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations for three protoplanetary disks in Taurus at 2.9\,mm and comparisons with previous 1.3\,mm data both at an angular resolution of $\sim0.''1$ (15\,au for the…
During the past five years, the Spitzer Space Telescope and improved ground-based facilities have enabled a huge increase in the number of circumstellar disks, around young stars of Solar mass or smaller, in which the composition of the…
Debris disks around young main-sequence stars often have gaps and cavities which for a long time have been interpreted as possibly being caused by planets. In recent years, several giant planet discoveries have been made in systems hosting…
For a comprehensive understanding of planetary formation and evolution, we need to investigate the environment in which planets form: circumstellar disks. Here we present high-contrast imaging observations of V4046 Sagittarii, a 20-Myr-old…
Theoretical arguments suggest that protoplanetary disks around young stars should start small and grow with the addition of high angular momentum material to reach the radii of several hundred AUs that characterize the disks around…
The dust disks observed around mature stars are evidence that plantesimals are present in these systems on spatial scales that are similar to that of the asteroids and the KBOs in the Solar System. These dust disks (a.k.a. ``debris disks'')…
Recent discoveries of circumbinary planets by Kepler mission provide motivation for understanding their birthplaces - protoplanetary disks around stellar binaries with separations <1 AU. We explore properties and evolution of such…
When giant planets form, they grow by accreting gas and dust. HD 142527 is a young star that offers a scaled-up view of this process. It has a broad, asymmetric ring of gas and dust beyond \about 100 AU and a wide inner gap. Within the gap,…
Tidal disruption events which repeat on timescales of months-to-years represent an unambiguous signature of a partial disruption, with the surviving stellar remnant returning to pericentre to be repeatedly stripped by tidal forces. These…
Recent exo-planetary surveys reveal that planets can orbit and survive around binary stars. This suggests that some fraction of young binary systems which possess massive circumbinary disks (CB) may be in the midst of planet formation.…
We review recent progress in high-resolution imaging of scattered light from disks around young stellar objects. Many new disks have been discovered or imaged in scattered light, and improved instrumentation and observing techniques have…
A cold neutral and extremely dim accretion disk may be present as a remnant of a past vigorous activity around the black hole in our Galactic Center (GC). Here we discuss ways to detect such a disk through its interaction with numerous…