New worlds in our Galaxy

Guest Speaker

Thursday, 2nd May 2024 (19:45 - 22:00)

Venue: Hybrid

The question about the origin of planets and life has fascinated humankind since ancient times. Thousands of exoplanets, i.e. planets around other stars, have been discovered . To our surprise these exoplanets have properties that are very different from those of the planets of our Solar System, thus challenging our understanding of how planets form. Recent observations suggest that planets and planetary systems may form much faster than it has been previously thought. I will discuss the methods for discovering exoplanets and present models of planet formation in protostellar discs around young stars.

Speaker: Dr Dimitris Stamatelos

Dr Stamatellos received his BSc in Physics from the University of Athens, Greece, his MSc in Space Physics and Astronomy from Rice University, USA, and in 2004 he was awarded a PhD degree in Astrophysics from Cardiff University, UK. He worked at Cardiff University as a Research Associate until 2013. Since then he is at the University of Central Lancashire, UK, initially as a Guild Research Fellow, and since 2018 as a Reader. His work is mainly theoretical and computational, focusing on the study of the earliest stages of star and planet formation. He has published more than 60 refereed articles and is well known for his research on planet formation by gravitational instability.