Latest Research on Circumstellar Disks

Dr. Geoff Mathews will provide an overview of the study of circumstellar disks.  The leftover material of star formation forms disks of gas and dust, which are in turn the environment in which planets form.  Recent surveys - in particular with the Kepler space telescope - have shown that nearly all stars form planets.  The study of the composition and structure of circumstellar disks helps us figure out how those planets form.

Dr. Mathews is the new full-time astronomy professor (and chair of the astronomy department) at Foothill College, succeeding Andrew Fraknoi who retired in 2017.  Dr. Mathews comes to Foothill from the University of Hawaii, where he was one of the designers of a new undergraduate major in astronomy, a faculty trainer in active learning strategies, and co-director of an astronomy summer camp for high school students.