Simultaneous Planet and Star Formation

The study of the formation and evolution of disks around young stars has been boosted since the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) has been opened for science observations. While it is widely accepted that planets are formed in protoplanetary disks, there is still much debate on when this process happens. In a few cases protoplanets have been directly imaged, but for the vast majority of systems, disk gaps and cavities – seen especially by ALMA in dust continuum observations – have been the strongest evidence of recent or on-going planet formation. Here I will present two very different cases of star and planet formation that are occurring in a small nascent open cluster around/within the nearby molecular Barnard 59 molecular dense core. Interestingly, these two cases have been serendipitous discoveries with ALMA in a project where we were aimed to study the role of magnetic fields in the formation and evolution of accretion disks around young stars. 

Zoom details:
Meeting ID: 850 4491 0172 
Passcode: 996691