1. Mid-Infrared Observations of Planet Forming Material Orbiting Young Stars Eric Leibensperger Ithaca College

2. Overview ● Star and Planet Formation ● Observations and Data Reduction ● Results ● Conclusions and Future Work

3. Star and Planet Formation

4. Observations and Data Reduction ● Spitzer Space Telescope Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) ● ~ 300 of 600 stars have been observed ● Reduction with SMART (Spectroscopy Modeling Analysis and Reduction Tool) Wavelength Intensity SMART Extraction (2 dimensional to 1 dimensional)

5. Results

6. Results cont. Disk Orientation

7. Conclusions and Future Work ● Standardized procedure to reduce data ● Strong evidence for circumstellar disks of planet forming material ● Orientation of disk can be determined ● Discovery of young star with cleared inner disk which implies planet formation ● Future Work: Detailed study of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon emission in Herbig Ae/Be (massive young) stars Wavelength ( μm) Intensity (Jy) PAH Emission from a young star