Fly-bye, Baby: a review of the impact of stellar flybys on protoplanetary disks
Protoplanetary disks don’t exist in isolation; when young stars pass each other by, their gravitational encounter can disrupt, or maybe even kickstart, planet formation.
Understanding the surprising narrowness of eccentric debris belts
Some extrasolar debris belts are not just eccentric but also surprisingly narrow. What processes can influence the width of debris belts?
Formation and Evolution of Planetary Systems Conference – Dedicated to the Scientific Legacy of Willy Kley
Prof. Willy Kley, a pioneer in the field of protoplanetary disks, unexpectedly died in December 2021. Today’s post commemorates Willy’s legacy and summarizes a scientific conference that was held in memory of Willy in the beginning of August.
Finding young exoplanets with machine learning
Astronomers have a challenging task ahead of them — to find young exoplanets in protoplanetary disks. Machine Learning could potentially come to the rescue.
Interview with Prof. Alicia Aarnio, Assistant Professor and AAS WGAD Founding Member
An interview with Professor Alicia Aarnio, founding member of AAS WGAD, talking about her stellar science, and the joy and rage of navigating science with a disability.
Young, cool, and on edge — an unstable protoplanetary disk
Is it possible to detect gravitational instability in a protoplanetary disk that is viewed edge-on? Today’s authors investigate the young disk around L1527 IRS.