Young Stars and Planets Near the Sun (IAU S314)

IAU Symposium 314 provides astronomers who study the early evolution of stars and exoplanets with an abundance of up-to-date information regarding local groups of young stars. In particular, it illustrates how nearby young stars provide by far the best opportunities to study and directly image young, Jupiter-like exoplanets.

In the past two decades, astronomers have discovered an abundance of young stars within ~100 parsecs of the Sun. Thanks to their proximity, these stars provide unique opportunities to investigate early stellar evolution, and they offer readily accessible targets for direct imaging and other measurements of dusty circumstellar disks, newly-formed brown dwarfs and, especially, young exoplanets. This volume highlights major advances in our understanding of the early evolution of stars and planetary systems flowing from investigations of nearby young stars. It features contributions that approach such studies from a wide variety of directions: the identification, ages, and origins of local young moving groups; early stellar evolution from theoretical and observational perspectives; and aspects of nascent or recently formed exoplanet systems. This up-to-date reference on local groups of young stars and their ability to aid the widening search for exoplanets addresses advanced students and researchers in the field.