Origin of the Solar System

• Theory building
• Prosolar nebula (molecular cloud in the Eagle Nebula)
• ingredients: gas and dust
• Protoplanetary disk
• The rise of planets

Testing the Solar Nebula Theory

Test I: Disks Around Other Stars

• disks imaged in Orion's great Nebula: gallery, face-on, edge-on
• gallery of protoplanetary systems in the Carina nebula
• dusty disk in beta Pictoris, with warped shape and now known to have a giant planet
• Fomalhaut system
• other images of circumstellar disks here and here