Planet Formation and Stellar Multiplicity

Gaspard Duchene has been studying stellar multiplicity and planet-forming disks, and particularly the inter-connection between both aspects, using a broad variety of observational approaches. While the prevalence of stellar multiplicity has been established for many decades, the discovery of extrasolar planets is one of the most exciting findings of modern astronomy. It is now becoming increasingly clear that planetary systems are frequent around Main Sequence stars. Duchene will discuss some key results on protoplanetary disks and mature planetary systems from a number of recent surveys based on the Spitzer, Kepler and Herschel space observatories.