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The Frontiers of Solar System Formation
from the VLA, ALMA, and JWST
John Tobin - NRAO
Abstract: The origins of solar systems are a tantalizing story that helps us understand our own origins
and the likelihood of life elsewhere. It is impossible to witness the full formation of a solar system from gas cloud to a star with planets because the process takes millions of years. However, leading observatories like the Very Large Array (VLA), the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), and JWST provide snapshot views of newborn stars that enable us to reconstruct the sequence of solar system formation and learn about the origins of own Solar System. The capabilities of these telescopes go beyond just capturing images, sensitive spectrometers on ALMA and JWST can detect the chemical fingerprints that reveal the origin of water and molecular complexity at the time of star and planet formation, essential ingredients for the ultimate formation of life. Still, the next generation of instruments in development have the promise to stretch our knowledge of solar system formation even farther, possibly enabling some processes to be observed in near real time.
CV: John is a “Science Ready Data Products Project. Scientist” at NRAO. His research includes star and planet formation, envelopes around youngest protostars, protostellar and protoplanetary disk formation, multiple star formation, and outflows and jets from protostellar objects. He received his PhD (Astronomy and Astrophysics) in 2011 at the University of Michigan, his MS degree at Univ of Michigan in 2008, and a BS in Astronomy at the Univ of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2006. His professional experience includes National Radio Astronomy Observatory Scientist 2022 – present, and Associate Scientist 2018 – 2022, University of Oklahoma Homer L. Dodge Assistant Professor 2016 – 2018; Leiden Observatory NWO Veni Fellow 2014 – 2016; National Radio Astronomy Observatory Hubble Fellow 2011 – 2014; University of Michigan Research Assistant 2006 – 2011.
