Where to Study Planet Formation? The Nearest, Youngest Stars, Eric Mamajek (University of Rochester)

The nearest, youngest stars are the best targets for studying the early evolution of planetary systems at the highest spatial resolution and best sensitivity with modern observatories. In a sense, they provide us with our nearest snapshots of what our early solar system may have resembled.  I will describe recent efforts to find and characterize the nearby young stellar populations in the Sun's vicinity,  and what recent surveys of protoplanetary disks, dusty debris disks, and searches for giant planets at large orbital radii appear to be telling us about the planet formation process.