Exoplanet Discovery and Cosmic Dust Evolution Toward Planetary Formation

Exoplanets are planets orbiting stars other than our Sun. More than 5000 have been found so far, including planets very unlike those in our Solar System and candidates for habitable worlds. Planets form within the universe's material cycle: their building blocks are micron-sized cosmic dust generated from gas released during the final stages of stellar evolution, such as supernovae and giants. This talk reviews how cosmic dust evolves into planets thousands of kilometers across, connecting exoplanet observations with theories of planetary formation.