One of the most interesting observational discoveries in astronomy during the past decade is that of newly formed or newly forming stars in the dark, cold, and dense clouds of gas and dust in our and in other galaxies. These so-called young stellar objects (YSOs) display a variety of morphologies, including circumstellar disks, jets, diffuse patches of dust, and conical nebulae. The Principal Investigator proposes to study YSOs and to answer some of the outstanding questions relating to them, such as the physical conditions of the YSOs, the heating mechanism of the disks, and the origin of the jets.
