We have recently identified a young, very red (J − Ks = 2.47 mag) late L-type companion at 8.06” ± 0.03” (~102 AU) from a previously unrecognized M dwarf. We determined the parallactic distance of the system to be 12.7±1.0 pc. Non-detection of lithium and the kinematics of the primary allowed us to constrain the age of the system in the range of 150–300 Myr. By comparison with theoretical evolutionary models we derived a mass of 73+20−15MJup for the primary, at around the substellar mass regime and 11.2+9.7−1.8MJup for the secondary, near the deuterium burning mass limit.

We present initial results of a new campaign of simulations focusing on the interaction of planetary winds with stellar environments using Adaptive Mesh Refinement methods. We have confirmed the results of Stone & Proga (2009) that an azimuthal flow structure is created in the planetary wind due to day/night temperatures differences. We show that a backflow towards the planet will occur with a strength that depends on the escape parameter. When a stellar outflow is included, we see unstable bow waves forming through the outflow's interaction with the planetary wind.

Main sequence stars hosting extreme quantities of inner planetary system debris are likely experiencing transient dust production events. The nature of these events, if they can be unambiguously attributed to a single process, can potentially inform us on the formation and/or early evolution of rocky Earth-like planets. In this contribution I examine some of the dustiest main sequence stars known and three processes that may be capable of reproducing their observed properties. Through this activity I also make an estimate for the likelihood of an A-type star to have an asteroid belt-like planetesimal population.

Fomalhaut b was long thought to shape the eccentric debris belt in the Fomalhaut system, but its orbit was found to be too eccentric for it to be the dominant belt-shaping perturber. This indicates that Fomalhaut b is Earth-sized at most and that the belt-shaping perturber, hereafter named Fomalhaut c, remains to be discovered. In addition, since its orbit more or less crosses that of Fomalhaut b, it also indicates that the current configuration of the system is transient and was reached recently. In this talk, we show that this current configuration can be explained if Fomalhaut c is Saturn- to Neptune-sized, and Fomalhaut b originates from a mean-motion resonance with Fomalhaut c.

We present preliminary results of models of terrestrial planet formation using on the one hand classical numerical integration of hundreds of small bodies on CPUs and on the other hand—for comparison—the results of our GPU code with thousands of small bodies which then merge to larger ones. To be able to determine the outcome of collision events we use our smooth particle hydrodynamics (SPH) code which tracks how water is lost during such events.

Impacts of falling evaporating bodies (FEBs) with stars and planets at velocities V ≳ 10 − 20 km/s will be accompanied, due to aerodynamic effects such as crushing and transversal expansion of the crushed mass, by the FEB's “explosion” and the generation of a strong “blast” wave, resulting in FEB-generated explosive/flare phenomena. Multiwavelength monitoring of nearby young stars (and exoplanets) with dense protoplanetary disks rich in FEB's is hence of interest for identifying such FEB-related mechanisms possibly underlying their variability.

In these proceedings, I present new VLT/X-shooter near-infrared spectroscopy of brown dwarf and planetary-mass candidates with masses below 30 Jupiter masses identified in a deep VISTA ZYJ survey of 13.5 square degrees in the Upper Scorpius (USco) association. These spectra represent new benchmarks at 5–10 Myr to compare with known and future discoveries of members in nearby moving groups and other young regions.

Currently it is possible to estimate the rotation profile of a star that harbours a planet in an orbit such that it eclipses the star periodically. During one of these transits, the planet may occult a spot on the photosphere of the star, causing small variations in its light curve. By detecting the same spot in a later transit, it is possible to estimate the stellar rotation period. Here we present the results of this model for the case of the star Kepler-63, which has a planet in an orbit with high obliquity. This means that the planetary eclipse occults many latitude bands of the star, from near the equator to the poles. The results show that Kepler-63 has differential rotation of 0.133 rd/d and a relative differential rotation of 11.4%.

We report two cases of Star-Planet Interaction (SPI) in two systems with hot Jupiters: HD 189733 and HD 17156. We used HST-COS to study the FUV variability of HD 189733 after the planetary eclipse. With the support of MHD simulations, we evince that material is likely evaporating from the planet and accreting onto the parent star. This produces a hot spot on the stellar surface, co-moving with the planetary motion and responsible of the X-ray and FUV variability at peculiar planetary phases. In HD 17156, which hosts a hot Jupiter in an eccentric orbit, we observed an enhancement of the X-ray activity at the passage of its planet at the periastron. The origin can be due to magnetic reconnection between the planetary and stellar magnetic fields, or due to material tidally stripped from the planet and accreting onto the star.

The power of micro-arcsecond (μas) astrometry is about to be unleashed. ESA's Gaia mission, now headed towards the end of the first year of routine science operations, will soon fulfil its promise for revolutionary science in countless aspects of Galactic astronomy and astrophysics. The potential of Gaia position measurements for important contributions to the astrophysics of planetary systems is huge. We focus here on the expectations for detection and improved characterization of ‘young’ planetary systems in the neighborhood of the Sun using a combination of Gaia μas astrometry and direct imaging techniques.

The Nearby Young Moving Groups sample the critical age when primordial disks around stars complete their transformation into planetary systems with associated debris. Millimeter wavelengths provide direct access to cool material in these circumstellar disks. The high angular resolution of interferometry at these long wavelengths enables resolved observations of solids in an optically thin regime, as well as the thermal, chemical, and dynamical structure of gas, if present. In this contribution, I briefly review the evolving landscape of millimeter telescopes, with emphasis on the revolutionary capabilities of the new international Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and describe pertinent early science results.

Galactic archaeology is the study of the history of star formation and chemical evolution in the Milky Way, based on present-day stellar populations. Studies of young stars are a key anchor point for Galactic archaeology, since quantities like the initial mass function and the star formation rate can be studied directly in young clusters and star forming regions. Conversely, massive spectroscopic Galactic archaeology surveys can be used as a data source for young star studies.

X-ray surveys are well suited to detect, identify and study young stars based on their high levels of magnetic activity and thus X-ray brightness. The eROSITA instrument onboard the Spectrum-Roentgen-Gamma (SRG) satellite will perform an X-ray all-sky survey that surpasses existing data by a sensitivity increase of more than an order of magnitude. The 4 yr survey is expected to detect more than half a million stars and stellar systems in X-rays.

We present the results of two 2.3 μm near-infrared (NIR) radial velocity (RV) surveys to detect exoplanets around 36 nearby and young M dwarfs. We use the CSHELL spectrograph (R ~ 46,000) at the NASA InfraRed Telescope Facility (IRTF), combined with an isotopic methane absorption gas cell for common optical path relative wavelength calibration. We have developed a sophisticated RV forward modeling code that accounts for fringing and other instrumental artifacts present in the spectra. With a spectral grasp of only 5 nm, we are able to reach long-term radial velocity dispersions of ~20–30 m s−1 on our survey targets.

In preparation for observations with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), we have identified new members of the nearby, young M dwarf sample and compiled an up to date list of these stars. Here we summarize our efforts to identify young M dwarfs, describe the current sample, and detail its demographics in the context of direct planet imaging. We also describe our investigations of the unprecedented sensitivity of the JWST when imaging nearby, young M dwarfs. The JWST is the only near term facility capable of routinely pushing direct imaging capabilities around M dwarfs to sub-Jovian masses and will provide key insight into questions regarding low-mass gas-giant properties, frequency, formation, and architectures.

I present a highly biased and skewed summary of IAU Symposium 314, “Young Stars and Planets Near the Sun,” held in May 2015. This summary includes some takeaway thoughts about the rapidly evolving state of the field, as well as some crowd-sourced predictions for progress over the next ~10 years. We predict the elimination of 1–2 of the currently recognized young moving groups, the addition of 3 or more new moving groups within 100 pc, the continued lack of a predictive theory of stellar mass, robust measurements of the gas and dust content of circumstellar disks, and an ongoing struggle to achieve a consensus definition for a planet.