Astronomy and astrophysics

The Earliest Stages of Star and Planet Formation in the ALMA era

by Jes Jørgensen (Center for Star and Planet Formation, Copenhagen)

Europe/Stockholm
FA32

FA32

Description
Low-mass stars like our Sun are formed in the centers of dark clouds of dust and gas that obscure their visible light. Deep observations at infrared and submillimeter wavelengths are uniquely suited to probe the inner regions of these young stellar objects and unravel their structures, as well as the physical and chemical processes important for the star formation process. These earliest stages are particularly interesting because the properties of the deeply embedded objects reflect the star formation process itself and how it relates to its environment. It is for example during this stage that the final mass of the star and the properties of its disk - and thus ability to form planets - are determined. In this talk I will discuss our current understanding of the earliest stages star formation. I will highlight a few recent results focusing on the chemical structure of low-mass protostars on solar system scales, including some of the exciting discoveries from first data from the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA).