Painting copyright Dr. Wm. Hartmann ( Planetary Science Institute) .
We plan to trace the evolution of planetary systems at all ages ranging from: (1) 3-10 Myr when stellar accretion from the disk terminates; to (2) 10-100 Myr when planets achieve their final masses via coalescence of solids and accretion of remnant molecular gas; to (3) 100-1000 Myr when the final architecture of solar systems takes form and frequent collisions between remnant planetesimals produce copious quantities of dust; and finally to (4) mature systems of age comparable to the Sun in which planet-driven activity of planetesimals continues to generate detectable dust. Our strategy is to use carefully calibrated spectral energy distributions and high-resolution spectra to infer the radial distribution of dust and the molecular hydrogen content of disks surrounding a sample of 300 solar-like stars distributed uniformly in log-age over 3 Myr to 3 Gyr.
The high precision and fine sampling of SIRTF spectral energy distributions can reveal both the existence of planets and their approximate masses and radial distributions through modeling of the dynamical effects of planets in sculpting planetesimal distributions and orchestrating their collision frequency. The size of our target list will enable us to characterize the diversity of planetary system architectures, providing a deeper appreciation of the range of possible outcomes of the planet formation process -- thus placing our own solar system in context.
Our Legacy program promises to provide: (1) new insight into problems of fundamental scientific and philosophical interest; (2) calibration with precision 2-3 times that of standard SIRTF data products, to the benefit of all SIRTF observers; (3) new numerical tools for simulating the dynamical history of forming solar systems; and (4) a rich database to stimulate follow-up observations with SIRTF, with existing and future ground-based facilities, and later with SIM, NGST, and TPF.
Dana Backman ( Deputy P.I., NASA-Ames / Franklin & Marshall), Steve Beckwith (STScI), John Carpenter (Caltech ), Martin Cohen ( UC-Berkeley), Thomas Henning (Jena), Lynne Hillenbrand (Deputy P.I., Caltech ), Dean Hines (Steward), David Hollenbach ( NASA-Ames ), Jonathan Lunine (LPL), Joan Najita (NOAO), John Stauffer (SSC), Renu Malhotra (LPL), Michael Meyer ( P.I., Steward Observatory , Pat Morris (SSC Liason), Deborah Padgett (SSC ), Steve Strom (NOAO), David Soderblom (STScI), Dan Watson (Rochester), Stuart Weidenschilling (PSI), and Erick Young (Steward).
Gzipped postscript version of paper describing our program SIRTF Legacy Science in the VLT Era to appear in the Springer-Verlag Astrophysics Series `The Origins of Stars and Planets: The VLT View' eds. J. Alves & M. McCaughrean.
Power-point version of presentation made at the June 2001 AAS meeting in Pasadena.
An extended abstract summarizing our project to be distributed at the June AAS in Pasadena.
On-line presentation made at the SIRTF Legacy Science Workshop held at the SSC January 12-13, 2001 describing the project.
Interest in learning more about infrared astronomy ?
Project information can be found here .
January 1, 2001 - Project start-date!
January 8-11, 2001 - San Diego AAS Meeting.
January 12-13, 2001 - SSC SIRTF Legacy Science Workshop.
June, 2001 - SIRTF LegSci Special Session at Pasadena AAS Meeting.
July, 2002 - SIRTF Launch!
Comments or questions? Send email to mmeyer@as.arizona.edu!
SIRTF Science Center with links to Legacy Proposal Call , Observer's Manual , Instrument Descriptions , and Observing Policies.
IPAC including links to IRAS , MSX , ISO , 2MASS , IRSA , IRSKY ,
Sub-millimeter facilities including SMT, OVRO, and ALMA..
NASA's Origins site at JPL with links to Origins Missions including HST , SOFIA , SIM, Keck , NGST, and TPF .
Electronic Newsletters of Interest:
The Star Formation Newsletter .
Kuiper Belt Electronic Newsletter .
AstroWeb search engine, ADS Abstract Server and the SIMBAD Source Query Form.
Go to the Steward Observatory Home Page.
Last Change: March 15, 2001
