The Planetary Report • September/October 1984

Extra-Solar Planets

On the Cover: The Great Nebula in Orion is a cloud of gas and dust illuminated from within by young stars. Infrared radiation and radio waves have revealed this stellar nursery where stars and perhaps planetary systems are forming, hidden within the vast, turbulent cloud.

Features

3 In Search of Other Worlds: David C. Black explains why the search for extrasolar planets is so fundamental to planetary research.

4 Are There Worlds Everywhere? Eugene H. Levy discusses the mysteries of planet formation.

7 Dust Disks Around Young Stars: Martin Cohen presents an infrared source region known as IRS-5 1551.

10 Evidence for Sub-Stellar Companions: D. W. McCarthy, Jr. summarizes the challenges in hunting for companions to both our sun and other stars.

12 The Suns in the Sky: Multiple Stars and Planetary Systems: R. S. Harrington asks: Are multiple star systems with planets dynamically stable?

15 Astrometry: The Search for Other Planetary Systems: John W. Stein describes this emerging field, hunting for extrasolar planets.

16 Spectroscopic Searches for Other Planetary Systems: Robert S. McMillan explains how astronomers use light to hunt for planets.

18 The Space Telescope's Search for Planets Around Other Stars: Jane Russell discusses how the soon-to-be-launched Hubble Space Telescope will aid in the hunt for exoplanets.

Departments

21 World Watch NASA's space station, Soviet planetary missions, and Halley's comet.

22 The Asteroid and the Spacecraft A story about Galileo, and a not-so-small asteroid.

23 Society Notes Space weapons symposium, and The Case for Mars II.

The Planetary Report • September/October 1984

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