Planet formation through radio eyes (Free Astronomy Public Lectures)

Presented by David J. Wilner on 13 February 2015.

Where did the Earth come from? How can we know? How can particles no larger than those in smoke come together to make a planet thousands of kilometers wide? Amazingly, radio telescope observations of material surrounding infant stars are starting to show us signs of planet formation in action. This talk will introduce some of the basic ideas and open questions of planet formation, starting with naked eye observations and proceeding to the latest images from giant radio telescopes, including the new international Atacama Large Millimeter Array of 66 antennas sited at 5000 meters altitude in northern Chile.