Mapping the physics of planet formation

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The 2019 Nobel prize in Physics was awarded for the discovery of the first extra-solar planet around a Sun-like star. But we do not know how these planets, or those in our solar system, formed. In the last two years our group at Monash pioneered a new technique for detecting `baby' planets --- observed still embedded in the disc of gas and dust from which they are born. The aim is to grow this new field of protoplanet detection and characterisation. The project aims to capture images of these planets, and to provide 3D modelling of the environment in which they form. The project will develop state of the art computer algorithms for simulating fluid flow that can be applied to problems here on Earth.