Protostars and Planets III

Book excerpt: Previous Space Science Series volumes Protostars and Planets (1978) and Protostars and Planets II (1985) were among the most timely offerings of this illustrious collection of technical works. Now Protostars and Planets III continues to address fundamental questions concerning the formation of stars and planetary systems in general and of our solar system in particular. Drawing from recent advances in observational, experimental, and theoretical research, it summarizes our current understanding of these processes and addresses major open questions and research issues. Among the more notable subjects covered in the more than three dozen chapters are the collapse of clouds and the formation and evolution of stars and disks; nucleosynthesis and star formation; the occurrence and properties of disks around young stars; T Tauri stars and their accretion disks; gaseous accretion and the formation of the giant planets; comets and the origin of the Solar-System; and the long-term dynamical evolution and stability of the solar system. Protostars and Planets III reflects the enormous progress made in understanding star and planet formation as a result of new observational capabilities and cooperative research among scientists from diverse fields. As new discoveries continue to be made, it will stand as an unparalleled reference for tomorrow's research.