Proto-Planetary Disks


Proto-planetary disks are where planets form  and migrate to their final locations, and where the materials that can ultimately produce life-bearing worlds are assembled.  We need to understand the disks, how long they last, how they interact with their central stars,  and how they evolve in order to understand both our  own Solar System's history, and to account for the diversity of exo-planetary systems discovered over the past decade.  Our current understanding of proto-planetary systems is currently heavily skewed to the  disks and environments of the nearest, optically visible young A stars, the Herbig Ae stars. I am part of a research group which has published a number of papers and has a range of active observing proposals:


Selected Refereed Publications

Grady, C. A.; Devine, David; Woodgate, B.; Kimble, R.; Bruhweiler, F. C.; Boggess, A.; Linsky, J. L.; Plait, Philip; Clampin, M.; Kalas, P. 2000, ApJ, 544, 895, "STIS Coronagraphic Imaging of the Herbig AE Star: HD 163296"

Roberge, A.; Lecavelier des Etangs, A.; Grady, C. A.; Vidal-Madjar, A.; Bouret, J.-C.; Feldman, P. D.; Deleuil, M.; Andre, M.; Boggess, A.; Bruhweiler, F. C.; Ferlet, R.; Woodgate, B. 2001, ApJ, 551, 97, "FUSE and Hubble Space Telescope/STIS Observations of Hot and Cold Gas in the AB Aurigae System"

Grady, C. A.; Polomski, E. F.; Henning, Th.; Stecklum, B.; Woodgate, B. E.; Telesco, C. M.; Piña, R. K.; Gull, T. R.; Boggess, A.; Bowers, C. W.; and 19 co-authors 2001, AJ, 122, 3396, "The Disk and Environment of the Herbig Be Star HD 100546"

Grady, C. A.; Proffitt, C. R.; Malumuth, E.; Woodgate, B. E.; Gull, T. R.; Bowers, C. W.; Heap, S. R.; Kimble, R. A.; Lindler, D.; Plait, P.; Weinberger, A., 2003, PASP, 115, 1036, "Coronagraphic Imaging with the Hubble Space Telescope and the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph"

Grady, C. A.; Woodgate, B.; Torres, Carlos A. O.; Henning, Th.; Apai, D.; Rodmann, J.; Wang, Hongchi; Stecklum, B.; Linz, H.; Williger, G. M.; and 9 co-authors 2004, ApJ, 608, 809, "The Environment of the Optically Brightest Herbig Ae Star, HD 104237"

Grady, C. A.; Woodgate, B.; Heap, S.R.; Bowers, C. W.; Nuth, J.A. III; Herczeg, G.J.; Hill, H.J.J.  2005, ApJ, 620, 470, "Resolving the Inner Cavity of the HD 100546 Disk: A Candidate Young Planetary System?"

Swartz, D.A.; Drake, J.J.; Elsner, R.F.; Ghosh, K.K.; Grady, C. A.; Wassell, E.; Woodgate, B.;Kimble, R.A.   2005, ApJ, 628, 811, astro-ph/0503076, "The Herbig Ae star HD 163296 in X-rays"
Invited Talk

Grady, C.A., Williger, G.M., Bouret, J.-C., Roberge, A., Sahu, M.,
Woodgate, B.E. 2004, "The Evolution of Planetary Systems: FUSE's
View of the First 20--30 Myr", in Astrophysics in the Far Ultraviolet,
ASP Conf. Series, ed. Sonneborn, G., Moos, H.W. & Andersson, B.-G.


Selected Current Observing Programs

Grady, C., Williger, G., Sahu, M., Roberge, A.,
Bouret, J.-C., Woodgate, B., 2003, FUSE Cycle 4 GO Prog D065, "Probing the Evolution of Stellar
Activity in Young A Stars with FUSE"

Grady, C., Bouret, J.-C., Roberge, A., Sahu, M., Williger, G., Woodgate, B.
2004, Cycle 5 FUSE Legacy Prog E510, "Probing the Evolution of
Activity in Herbig Ae Stars with FUSE"

Grady, C., Woodgate, B. & Williger, G., long-term Fabry-Perot observations of Herbig Ae Stars with the Apache Point 3.5m telescope

Apai, D., Abraham, P.,  Henning, Th., Grady, C. et al. 2004, VLT program 73.C-0721(A), "FUORs -- The Black Sheep of the T Tauri Family? High-Contrast Mapping of an Edge-On FU Ori Disk"

Grady, C., Bouman, J., Hamaguchi, K., Henning, Th., Petre, R., Sitko, M., Williger, G., Woodgate, B., 2003, Chandra Cycle 7 GO Program, "X-ray Activity and Wind Geometry in Young A Stars at the Epoch of Disk Clearing"