Standard work on protostars and planets published
When it comes to learning the latest results in a fast-paced area of research, conferences like those of the conference series Protostars and Planets play an important role: at each conference, dozens of high-profile speakers introduce their audience to the state-of-the-art of the various aspects of research on planet and star formation. After the conference, their contributions are collected in a conference volume that serves as the field's standard compendium for years to come - this is the way things have been handled since the first Protostars and Planets volume in 1978.
Now, the 6th edition of the prestigious book series has been delivered to conference participants, after having gone on sale in late 2014. The book is the result of a close collaboration between researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) and the Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics (ITA), part of Heidelberg University's Center for Astronomy (ZAH). The book is edited by Henrik Beuther (MPIA), Ralf S. Klessen (ITA), Cornelis P. Dullemond (ITA) and Thomas Henning (MPIA), and published by the University of Arizona Press. The book grew out of the Protostars and Planets VI conference that drew more than 800 to Heidelberg in July 2013. In 38 review articles on more than 900 pages, the book covers all aspects of current research into the birth of stars and their planets.