In order to study exoplanets, a comprehensive characterisation of the fundamental properties of the host stars – such as angular diameter, temperature, luminosity, and age, is essential, as the formation and evolution of exoplanets are directly influenced by the host stars at various points in time. In this paper, we present interferometric observations taken of directly imaged planet host 51 Eridani at the CHARA Array. We measure the limb-darkened angular diameter of 51 Eridani to be $\theta_\mathrm{LD} = 0.450\pm 0.006$ mas and combining with the Gaia zero-point corrected parallax, we get a stellar radius of $1.45 \pm 0.02$ R$_{\odot}$. We use the PARSEC isochrones to estimate an age of $23.2^{+1.7}_{-2.0}$ Myr and a mass of $1.550^{+0.006}_{-0.005}$ M$_{\odot}$. The age and mass agree well with values in the literature, determined through a variety of methods ranging from dynamical age trace-backs to lithium depletion boundary methods. We derive a mass of $4.1\pm0.4$ M$_\mathrm{Jup}$ for 51 Eri b using the Sonora Bobcat models, which further supports the possibility of 51 Eri b forming under either the hot-start formation model or the warm-start formation model.

Impacts of falling evaporating bodies (FEBs) with stars and planets at velocities V ≳ 10 − 20 km/s will be accompanied, due to aerodynamic effects such as crushing and transversal expansion of the crushed mass, by the FEB's “explosion” and the generation of a strong “blast” wave, resulting in FEB-generated explosive/flare phenomena. Multiwavelength monitoring of nearby young stars (and exoplanets) with dense protoplanetary disks rich in FEB's is hence of interest for identifying such FEB-related mechanisms possibly underlying their variability.

We present detailed models of the edge-on protoplanetary disk ESO Hα 569 (SSTgbs J111110.7-764157) from resolved scattered light images from HST and a complete spectral energy distribution. Data was obtained as part of an HST campaign to catalogue edge-on disks around young stars in nearby star forming regions (HST program 12514, PI: Karl Stapelfeldt). We confirm that this object is an optically thick edge-on disk around a young star with an outer radius of 125 AU. Using full radiative transfer models, we probe the distribution of dust grains and overall shape of the disk (inclination, scale height, dust mass, maximum particle size, inner radius, flaring exponent and surface/volume density exponent).

The existence of circumstellar disks around young stellar objects like T Tauri stars is now well accepted. Such disks would have solar system sizes and, at the distance of the nearest star forming cloud, an angular diameter of 0.01 to 1 arcsecond at most, requiring very high angular resolution to be detected. Due to the nature of the emission process in circumstellar disks and to chromatic properties of ground based observations, disk imaging is expected to be more efficient in the near infrared. Also, multi-aperture interferometry in this wavelength range (1 – 10 μm) is expected to bring considerable insight into the disks properties and evolution in revealing their inner physical structure.

In this paper, we present synthetic images of circumstellar accretion disks. The images have been computed from a complete disk vertical structure model.

The theory of fossil magnetic fields shows that new born stars may have internal magnetic fields of more than 1 million gauss. Convection inside young solar type stars will tangle any strong fossil magnetic field. The small scale magnetic field rises to the surface and determines the young stars activity attenuating with their age. When a fossil field is diminished a turbulent dynamo may begin to work in the condition of nonlinear stabilization. The scaling relations for the turbulent αω dynamo show that the strength of the generated “fossil” magnetic field inside the main sequence stars is stabilized on the level one tenth — 10 millions gauss, depending on the mass of the stars.