Related papers: Planetary Bow Shocks
The field of exoplanetary science is one of the most rapidly growing areas of astrophysical research. As more planets are discovered around other stars, new techniques have been developed that have allowed astronomers to begin to…
Looking at the Mars-solar wind interaction on a larger spatial scale than the near Mars region, the planet can be seen as an ion source interacting with the solar wind, in many ways like a comet, but with a smaller ion source region. Here…
Pulsars with high spin-down power produce relativistic winds radiating a fraction of the power in the range from radio to gamma-rays in the pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe). The rest of the power is dissipated in the interactions of the PWNe with…
The magnetic field produced by planets with active dynamos, like the Earth, can exert sufficient pressure to oppose supersonic stellar wind plasmas, leading to the formation of a standing bow shock upstream of the magnetopause, or…
Recent observations have confirmed the existence of rings around minor bodies in the outer Solar System. These objects may possess satellites as well. Here we analytically investigate the interaction between such rings and satellites. We…
Recent results showed that the magnetic field of M-dwarf (dM) stars, currently the main targets in searches for terrestrial planets, is very different from the solar one, both in topology as well as in intensity. In particular, the…
Recent observations suggest that stellar magnetic activity may be influenced by the presence of a close-by giant planet. Specifically, chromospheric hot spots rotating in phase with the planet orbital motion have been observed during some…
Recently, Fossati et al. observed that the UV transit of WASP-12b showed an early ingress compared to the optical transit. We suggest that the resulting early ingress is caused by a bow shock ahead of the planetary orbital motion. In this…
A wide variety of solar system bodies are now known to radiate in the soft x-ray energy (<5 keV) regime. These include planets (Earth, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Mars): bodies having thick atmospheres, with or without intrinsic magnetic field;…
A number of substellar companions to evolved cool stars have now been reported. Cool giants are distinct from their progenitor Main Sequence (MS) low-mass stars in a number of ways. First, the mass loss rates of cool giant stars are orders…
This paper deals with the problem of astrometric determination of the orbital elements of the outer planets, in particular by assessing the ability of astrometric observations to detect perturbations of the sort expected from the Pioneer…
This chapter reviews the most recent advancements on the topic of terrestrial and giant planet interiors, including Solar System and extrasolar objects. Starting from an observed mass-radius diagram for known planets in the Universe, we…
Commenting the 11-year sunspot cycle, Wolf (1859, MNRAS 19, 85-86) conjectured that "the variations of spot frequency depend on the influences of Venus, Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn". The high synchronization of our planetary system is…
Earth's bow shock is known to produce non-thermal electrons which are generally observed as a `spike' in their flux profile. Here, in this paper, we present an analysis of electron and whistler wave properties for a quasi-perpendicular…
Our Solar system is almost entirely devoid of material interior to Mercury's orbit, in sharp contrast to the multiple Earth masses of material commonly residing within the analogous region of extrasolar planetary systems. Recent work has…
On timescales that greatly exceed an orbital period, typical planetary orbits evolve in a stochastic yet stable fashion. On even longer timescales, however, planetary orbits can spontaneously transition from bounded to unbound chaotic…
Recent observations of the Earth's exosphere revealed the presence of an extended hydrogenic component that could reach distances beyond 40 planetary radii. Detection of similar extended exospheres around Earth-like exoplanets could reveal…
An asymmetry between the ingress and egress times was observed in the near-UV light curve of the transit planet WASP-12b. Such asymmetry led us to suggest that the early ingress in the UV light curve of WASP-12b, compared to the optical…
The architecture of exoplanetary systems is often different from the solar system, with some exoplanets being in close orbits around their host stars and having orbital periods of only a few days. In analogy to interactions between stars in…
The new discoveries of circumbinary planetary systems shed light on the understanding of planetary system formation. Learning the architectural properties of these systems is essential for constraining the different formation mechanisms. We…