When the Stars Align: The Quest to Learn How, Why and Where Planets Form

Imagine you were designing a planetary system. What kinds of planets would you include? Where would you place them? How would they be oriented? Over the past 30 years over 4000 planets have been found in approximately 500 planetary systems outside of our Solar System. And most of them do not look like our Solar System! In this presentation learn how, why and where planets form beyond our Solar System and what that means for how unique the Earth is and the potential for life beyond Earth.

Presented by Emma M. Louden, Ph.D. Student, Yale Astrophysics Department in conjunction with Yale University Peabody Museum's Speakers Bureau.