UofT AstroTour: The Birth of Planetary Systems: From Star Formation to The Solar System (ONLINE)

Join us for the May AstroTour! The entire evening is free and no registration is required. Fergus Horrobin will be talking about how stars and planetary systems around them form. After the talk, join us for demos and activities on Zoom!

To date, thousands of planets have been discovered around nearby stars. In fact, recent surveys suggest that nearly every nearby star is likely to have at least one planet. In this talk, Fergus Horrobin will present how we can use observations of young stars combined with planetary system configuration statistics to understand the formation and early evolution of planetary systems. He will also demonstrate how hydrodynamics simulations of protostellar disks can help us understand the physics of planet formation and identify features which may be evidence of a forming planet. Finally, he will show some of the current observations of forming planets and discuss briefly how next generation instruments will provide many more opportunities to catch planet formation in action.

Fergus Horrobin is a third year PhD candidate at the University of Toronto's Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics and the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics. He uses fluid dynamics simulations of protostellar disks, the disks of gas and dust which form around young stars, to understand the formation of planets and the dynamics of young planetary systems. Outside of work, he enjoys spending time outside, particularly cycling and rock climbing.

Who can attend: Everyone
Fee: Free
Registration: Not required
Organized by: U of T Graduate Astronomy Students Association. AstroTours are generously supported by the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Toronto.
Links:
Talks: 8:00pm EDT, YouTube
Interactive Demos: 9:00pm EDT, Zoom

https://www.astro.utoronto.ca/~gasa/astrotours/
https://www.facebook.com/events/1655410481488781