2016 AAAS Annual Meeting (February 11-15, 2016)

February 10 - 15, 2016

Planet Formation Seen with Radio Eyes

Radio-wavelength emission is relatively unaffected by intervening dust and gas, and observations with radio telescopes are key to understanding star and planet formation and the dust-shrouded environments where these processes occur. Astronomers around the world are exploring new discovery space and scientific frontiers using much more capable arrays and large, single-dish radio telescopes, including the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, Very Large Array, Plateau de Bure Interferometer, Green Bank Telescope, and Nobeyama Radio Observatory. The much improved sensitivity, resolution, and imaging quality of these telescopes are enabling a revolution in our understanding of the physics and chemistry of star and planet formation. Recent radio images have revealed telltale tracks in heavily obscured nearby disks, for example, which are presumably signatures of planet formation. Scientists are now probing how, where, and when planets form and are analyzing the links between planetary system architecture and the properties of the parent circumstellar disk. Though the relationship of planetary to stellar masses remains obscure, it is clear that most stars host planets. This symposium describes the state-of-the-art radio-wavelength observing campaigns astronomers are using to probe planet formation and samples new scientific results that radio telescopes are yielding.