"PROBING THE ORIGINS OF PLANETARY SYSTEMS"
The discovery of extrasolar planets has renewed interest
in
exploring the origin, nature and frequency of planetary
systems.
Since planets form in circumstellar disks out of dust
and gas,
their properties would depend critically on those of
the disks.
Thanks to recent technological developments --such as
infrared
and submillimeter detector arrays, adaptive optics, and
large
ground-based telescopes-- we are now able to probe many
of the
key stages in the planet formation process.