Program: GN-2011B-Q-82

The formation of planetary systems is believed to be intimately connected to the properties of the circumstellar disks from which they are formed. Many disk studies have focused on nearby star forming regions like Taurus for their proximity, yet most stars actually form in dense clusters near massive OB-stars like those in Orion. Building on the success of our NIFS observations of H2 in circumstellar disks in Taurus, in observing semester 2011A we acquired the first ever spatially resolved H2 images toward disks in Orion. From these data we can directly estimate the mass of emitting molecular gas in these disks, and constrain the gas-to-dust ratio for the first time in circumstellar disks around young stars in Orion. The current proposal requests additional observations of three massive proplyd disk sources which may exhibit evidence for photo-evaporation. Our proposed observation will allow more accurate measurements of the disk gas masses, and can constrain models for the potential of disks to form planets in the typical birth environment of most stars in our Galaxy.