Prior to his residency in Florence, Kastner spent two months as a visiting astronomer at the Institut de Planetologie et Astronomie de Grenoble, or IPAG, in France, studying the compositions of planet-forming disks around young stars in a collaboration with scientists there who work in the areas of interstellar and solar system chemistry.
“The astrophysicists at IPAG, Arcetri, Carnegie and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory are combining observations with the world’s most powerful astronomical facilities with sophisticated computer modeling to attack the complex problem of how planetary systems, including our own solar system, have come into being,” Kastner said. “I feel very fortunate to be able to work so closely with so many ‘black belt’ astrophysicists during one sabbatical year.”