A Decade of Extrasolar Planets around Normal Stars: Proceedings of the Space Telescope Science Institute Symposium, held in Baltimore, Maryland May 2–5, 2005

by Edited by Mario Livio , Kailash Sahu , Jeff Valenti

• ISBN13: 9780521897846
• ISBN10: 052189784X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-07-14
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Humans have long thought that planetary systems similar to our own should exist around stars other than the Sun, yet the search for planets outside our Solar System has had a dismal history of discoveries that could not be confirmed. However, this all changed in 1995, with the past decade witnessing astonishing progress in this field; we now know of more than 200 extrasolar planets. These findings mark crucial milestones in the search for extraterrestrial life - arguably one of the most intriguing endeavors of modern science. These proceedings from the Space Telescope Science Institute Symposium on Extrasolar Planets explore one of the hottest topics in astronomy today. Discussions include the Kepler mission, observational constraints on dust disk lifetimes and the implications for planet formation, and gravitational instabilities in protoplanetary disks. With review papers written by world experts in their fields, this is an important resource on extrasolar planets.

Table of Contents

Participants	p. vii
Preface	p. xi
Extrasolar planets: Past, present, and future	p. 1
The quest for very low-mass planets	p. 15
Extrasolar planets: A galactic perspective	p. 26
The Kepler Mission: Design, expected science results, opportunities to participate	p. 36
Observations of the atmospheres of extrasolar planets	p. 50
Planetary migration	p. 66
Observational constraints on dust disk lifetimes: Implications for planet formation	p. 84
The evolution of gas in disks	p. 106
Planet formation	p. 121
Core accretion-gas capture model for gas giant planet formation	p. 138
Gravitational instabilities in protoplanetary disks	p. 153
Conference summary: The quest for new worlds	p. 178
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