Event

Abstract:  The vast diversity of planetary systems arises from formation
processes within circumstellar disks. These disks start out gas rich and end
full of planets and some remnant debris dust. I will concentrate on stars in
nearby young stellar associations and show how multi-wavelength imaging of
their disks can reveal their compositions and dynamical states. I will
highlight recent results with the Hubble Space Telescope and Magellan
Adaptive Optics that both reveal the disks in amazing detail and hint at
their chemical balance of silicates, hydrocarbons, and ice. If there is
time, I will also show how getting distances to nearby stellar associations
is illuminating the story of their disk evolution.