Project Details
Projekt
GRK 1351: Extrasolar Planets and their Host Stars
Subject Area
Astrophysics and Astronomy
Term
from 2007 to 2015
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 19902941
The planets in our solar system have been known to mankind for many thousands of years. Thus, one of the most fundamental astrophysical discoveries was the first successful detection of a planet orbiting around another star in 1995. Since then, over a hundred such "extrasolar" planets have been discovered. Surprisingly, the majority of these new planetary systems have properties, which are drastically different from those in our solar system w.r.t. the separation from their host stars and the form of their orbits. These findings directly contradict classical theories of planet formation. In contrast to the planets of our solar system, which can be studied in situ and individually, the large distances towards extrasolar planets imply that they can only be observed together with their host stars. Modern observations have shown that stars and planets are not merely accidental celestial neighbours bound by the force of gravity, but they are rather parts of interacting planetary systems with a common history and evolution.
This recognition that a study and understanding of extrasolar planetary systems is impossible without an adequate consideration of their host stars forms the central idea of this Research Training Group, which started in 2007 at the Hamburg Observatory and the Astrophysical Institute of the University of Göttingen. The scientists working in the Research Training Group are combining their expertise in different areas of stellar astrophysics to solve current problems in extrasolar planetary systems research and to offer an attractive, scientifically competitive and internationally networked research environment to the members of the Research Training Group. The Research Training Group is fully compatible with the Bachelor/Master/PhD system introduced both at the universities in Hamburg and Göttingen and will help both institutes in offering an attractive and internationally competitive PhD programme.
This recognition that a study and understanding of extrasolar planetary systems is impossible without an adequate consideration of their host stars forms the central idea of this Research Training Group, which started in 2007 at the Hamburg Observatory and the Astrophysical Institute of the University of Göttingen. The scientists working in the Research Training Group are combining their expertise in different areas of stellar astrophysics to solve current problems in extrasolar planetary systems research and to offer an attractive, scientifically competitive and internationally networked research environment to the members of the Research Training Group. The Research Training Group is fully compatible with the Bachelor/Master/PhD system introduced both at the universities in Hamburg and Göttingen and will help both institutes in offering an attractive and internationally competitive PhD programme.
DFG Programme
Research Training Groups
Applicant Institution
Universität Hamburg
Co-Applicant Institution
Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
Participating Institution
Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung (MPS)
Spokesperson
Professor Dr. Jürgen H.M.M. Schmitt
