21 October 2026: Andrew Winter

Speaker: Andrew Winter (Queen Mary University of London)

Date: Wednesday 21 October 2026

Time: 14:00

Location: Physics 3.34

A new, emerging picture of planet formation: The importance of late-stage replenishment

The field of planet formation is at the cusp of a radical shift. Recent observational evidence has dramatically called into question the long-held assumption that mature (>1 Myr old) ‘protoplanetary discs’ of dust and gas around young stars evolve isolated from their surroundings. Instead, stunning large-scale maps of the environment surrounding these discs are frequently revealing infalling gas on scales of 100s-1000s of astronomical units. This has prompted some urgent open questions, primarily: how important is this late-stage infall for planet formation? In this talk, I review the theoretical and observational evidence suggesting that we need to rethink our models of planet formation, and discuss some of the broad consequences for the field.