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WELCOME! to the home page for ASTR 5820: Origin and Evolution of
Planetary Systems. The aim of this course is to explain how planets
(including both terrestrial planets and
giant planets) form from the protoplanetary disks that are observed around
young stars, and to assess how the early evolution of planetary systems due to
dynamical processes impacts what we observe today. Two of the `big picture'
questions we'll be addressing are: (1) Can we understand the architecture
of our own Solar System? and (2) Is our Solar System the typical outcome of
the planet formation process? The course syllabus explains
the most important class policies.
OUTLINE We'll broadly cover the process of planet formation and
planetary system evolution in the same order in which we think it occurs in Nature: PROBLEM SETS LECTURE NOTES The lecture notes from the version of this class taught in 2008 are available online. There will be some different material covered this time around, reflecting both developments over the last two years and changes in my thinking as to what are the most important topics. But overall these notes will give a close approximation of the content of the course. TEXTBOOKS My own textbook, Astrophysics of Planet Formation, provides a more in-depth treatment of the class material than there is space for in the lecture notes. Other books that I recommend are Planetary Sciences (de Pater and Lissauer), which provides a broad introduction to much of planetary science, and Solar System Dynamics (Murray and Dermott), which is the standard reference for serious students of planetary dynamics.
CODES
The Mercury N-body code (tar file) VINTAGE TEXTBOOK The theoretical study of planet formation owes a tremendous debt to Victor Safronov, whose work on the Evolution of the protoplanetary cloud and formation of the earth and the planets was far ahead of its time. This book (in English translation!) is sporadically available second hand through Amazon - I have a copy if anyone's interested. I gather NASA will still sell you a new copy if you ask too. |
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