Presented By: Saturday Morning Physics
Saturday Morning Physics | Capitalizing on Diversity: Planet Formation Boundary Conditions on the Origins of Life
Michael R. Meyer, Professor of Astronomy (U-M)
Planets form within circumstellar disks which are an inevitable outcome of the process of star formation. We know a great deal about the structure, composition, and evolution of these circumstellar disks, which set the initial conditions of formation and define the environment of their early evolution. While traditional planet formation theories generally fail when confronted with the observations, new ideas are suggesting a way forward. What is certain is that the complex interplay between the dynamics of these disks and chemical processes plays a critical role in dictating the composition of forming planets. There is plenty of room for "fine tuning" but the great diversity in observed planetary system architectures could represent an expected filling if the available phase space.
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