During a current project to write up the early stages of stellar evolution for IIS readers (that is, from
Starless Core to
Protostar to
T Tauri Star)(a 9500 word article, and still growing!), I have come across some
excellent resources:
(
if you don't want to read all of this stuff, you could just wait for my article to come out, which is based on reading over 100 scientific papers!)
New Light on Young Stars : Spitzer's View of Circumstellar Disks (2008)(5th Spitzer Conference)
http://www.ipac.caltech.edu/spitzer2008 (click on 'Proceedings')
This conference is a remarkable and exciting snapshot of the rapidly advancing field of circumstellar (protoplanetary) disk studies. PDF files are available of the conference presentations.
“Protostars and Planets IV”, (2000), eds Mannings et al., Univ of Arizona Press,
A very useful, if slightly dated, series of comprehensive review papers on star formation and the Interstellar Medium.
This volume is available as an online book, free of charge from the publisher:
http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/books.php
(click on 'online books')
“Protostars and Planets V”, (2007), eds Reipurth et al.
http://www.gps.caltech.edu/classes/g..._preprints.htm
This symposium is an important resource for people wanting to obtain detailed knowledge about Star Formation and the Interstellar Medium. Cogent review papers about most topics; not excessively theoretical.
http://hera.ph1.uni-koeln.de/~ossk/Myself/star-formation.html
Lecture notes for a course on Star Formation. A very well presented & clearly argued set of slides.
www.ucolick.org/~krumholz/courses/spring11_ast220b
A comprehensive & up-to-date quantitative course on star & planet formation. This is Very theoretical & mathematical.
Krumholz is a very-well-regarded current worker in this field.
McKee & Ostriker, (2007), ARAA, Vol. 45, p.565
http://www.annualreviews.org/eprint/....051806.110602
A very long Review Paper which is often cited. A comprehensive and detailed review, but primarily theory.
(click on the pdf file to bring it up in your browser)