Accretion disks around young stars: the cradles of planet formation

¹ Max Planck Institute for Astronomy – Heidelberg – Department of Chemistry – Ludwig Maximilian University – Munich – Germany
² Center for Astrophysics – Harvard and Smithsonian – Boston – USA

Abstract

Protoplanetary disks around young stars are the birth sites of planetary systems like our own. Disks represent the gaseous dusty matter left after the formation of their central stars. The mass and luminosity of the star, initial disk mass and angular momentum, and gas viscosity govern disk evolution and accretion. Protoplanetary disks are the cosmic nurseries where microscopic dust grains grow into pebbles, planetesimals, and planets.