Lecture Description
This lecture provides an overview of the present-day Solar System as well as the theory of planetary formation and evolution.
The first part introduces the fundamental concepts of orbital motion, gravitational potentials (including tides and resonances), solid body surfaces (including age determination), planetary atmospheres, and small bodies.
Topics covered include: observed properties of extrasolar planets, Jeans instability, the structure of protoplanetary disks, Toomre instability, viscous accretion disks, condensation processes, dust growth, planetesimal formation, angular momentum exchange and orbital migration, the formation of giant planets, giant impacts and the formation of the Moon, and planetary population synthesis.
