From disks to planets: observational insights

The unprecedented sensitivity and imaging capabilities offered by the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) are transforming our understanding of protoplanetary disks and, hence, of planet formation. In this brief chapter, I first discuss the main results and caveats related to the measurement of the mass of solids in protoplanetary disks based on millimeter-wave observations. I then present a recent analysis of the ALMA observations of the HL Tau disk, which suggests that the observed circular rings might be due to the tidal interaction between Saturn mass planets and the circumstellar material. In the conclusion, I argue that the existing observations of protoplanetary disks suggest that planets might form very early on, perhaps at the same time as the formation of the disk itself.