EDITORIAL INFORMATION

The subject chosen for the tenth anniversary of the annual meetings of the Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), LES DISQUES DE POUSSIERES CIRCUMSTELLAIRES ET LA FORMATION DES PLANETES -"CIRCUMSTELLAR DUST DISKS AND PLANET FORMATION" was and still remains at forefront of astronomical research.

The Paris Conference therefore dealt with finding possible links between differents types of disks, and studying their evolution toward planetary systems, as well as putting forward the implications for processes of planetary growth.

(Extracted from the foreword, by Roger Ferlet and Alfred Vidal-Madjar, editors).

GENERAL TABLE OF CONTENTS

-Contents.

-Avant-propos.

-Foreword.

-List of Participants.

-Programme of the Meeting.

-10 Years of Beta Pictoris- A Personal Reminiscence.

-Beta Pictoris.

-Beta Pictoris: the Gaseous Circumstellar Disc.
-The Beta Pictoris Spectrum: Some Remaining Questions.
-10 Years of UV Observations of the Betas Pictoris Circumstellar Disk.
-Beta Pictoris: The "Falling Evaporating Bodies" Model.
-Modeling and Understanding the Dust around Beta Pictoris.
-Multi-color Observations of the Beta Pictoris Circumstellar Disk.
-The Silicates in Beta Pictoris.
-Probing the Inner Beta Pictoris Dust Disk at 10 µm.
-A Planet in the Inner Clearing Zone of Beta Pictoris?
-Beta Pictoris: Evidence of Light Variations.
-Beta Pictoris and Numerical Study of the Giant Planets Hypothesis.
-A Mechanism for Producing the Transient Absorption Events in Beta Pictoris.

-Other Stars.

-Beta Pictoris in Context - IRAS and Ground-Based Studies of Main Sequence Stars.
-Disk-Like Structures around Young Stars.
-From T Tauri to the Main Sequence: Evolution of Orbiting Gaseous and Particulate Matter.
-Circumstellar Matter around Post T Tauri Stars.
-The GG Tau Ring.
-A Comparison of the 1.3 mm Dust Emission among Taurus Binaries.
-X-Ray Emission of T Tauri Stars.
-Adaptative Optics Observations of Main Sequence Stars: First Results.
-The Beta Pictoris Phenomenon of the Herbig Ae Star: Ux Ori.
-The Beta Pictoris Phenomenon in Herbig Ae/Be Stars: UV Observations.
-On the Cause of the Amount of IR-Excess of Herbig Ae/Be Stars.
-AGB and Post-AGB Circumstellar Envelopes.

-Solar System Analogs.

-The Kuiper Belt and Circumstellar Disks.
-The Composition of Comets.
-Cometary Spectra.
-Presolar Material in Meteorites: Sources and Implications.
-The Zodiacal Dust Cloud.
-Dust and Processes in the Protoplanetary Disk as Recorded in Chondrules.
-Planetary Atmospheres.

-Planet Formation.

-Planet Formation and the Spacing of Planetary Orbits.
-Orbital Stability and the Structure of the Solar System.
-Marginal Stability of the Solar System.
-Effect of Mass Loss on Disk Formation - Solar System.
-Circumbinary Dust Disks.
-Isotopes, Early Irradiation and the Origin of the Solar System.
-On the Propagation of Acoustic Waves in Accreation Disks.
-Capture of Solid Material into Protoplanetary Long-Lived Eddies.
-Titius-Bode Law: there is no Magic in the Solar System.
-The Search for Extrasolar Planetary Systems: Methods of Detection and Results.
-Planets around Stars.
-Review of the Observations of Disks around Main Sequence Stars Planned in the ISO Central Program.
-The ROSETTA Mission and the Origin of the Solar System.
-FIRST and Circumstellar Disks.

-Concluding Remarks.

-Concluding Remarks: the Beta Pictoris Disk.

-Poster Contributions (23).

OUR REVIEW

During a whole week (July 4th. - 8th., 1994) Paris became the center of all circumstellar disks. About ninety guests from all over the world (Australia, Canada, the USA, India, Japan, Eastern countries and the EEC) attended the meeting.

During the different presentations, which contributed the latest advances in the themes dealt with during this symposium, the need for a greater understanding among theoreticians and observers - the latter being better and better furnished (Hubble Telescope, infrared systems, etc.) - was clearly pointed out.

Somehow or other, what is really obvious in the texts this book offers us, is the fact that the formation and presence of planets around other planets is an already irrefutable fact and that the future, no doubt, will hold great surprises for us. The depth and detail of the works appears to suggest this, since the steps that are being taken lately are changing in a radical way our global perception of the processes that govern the planetary construction and the cultural consequences derived from this fact.