Related papers: Jupiter and Saturn Rotation Periods
Rotation is a directly-observable stellar property, and drives magnetic field generation and activity through a magnetic dynamo. Main sequence stars with masses below approximately 0.35Msun (mid-to-late M dwarfs) are fully-convective, and…
We re-analyze the global orbital architecture and dynamical stability of the $\mu$ Arae planetary system. We have updated the best-fit elements and minimal masses of the planets based on literature radial velocity (RV) measurements, now…
The recently approved Juno mission will orbit Jupiter for one year in a highly eccentric (r_min=1.06R_Jup, r_max=39R_Jup) polar orbit (i=90 deg) to accurately map, among other things, the jovian magnetic and gravitational fields. Such an…
Fundamental properties of the planet Venus, such as its internal mass distribution and variations in length of day, have remained unknown. We used Earth-based observations of radar speckles tied to the rotation of Venus obtained in…
Context. Atmospheric superrotating flows at the equator are an almost ubiquitous result of simulations of hot Jupiters, and a theory explaining how this zonally coherent flow reaches an equilibrium has been developed in the literature.…
New equations of state (EOS) for hydrogen, helium, and compounds containing heavier elements are used to construct models for the structures of the planets Jupiter and Saturn. Good agreement with the gravitational moments J2 and J4 is…
Brown dwarfs and directly imaged giant planets exhibit significant evidence for active atmospheric circulation, which induces a large-scale patchiness in the cloud structure that evolves significantly over time, as evidenced by infrared…
In a previous paper, I described a new way of determining the high-latitude solar rotation rate statistically from space-time maps of polar faculae observed in the 6767 \r{A} continuum by the Michelson Doppler Interferometer (MDI) on the…
Saturn's moon Iapetus has an orbit in a transition region where the Laplace surface is bending from the equator to the orbital plane of Saturn. The orbital inclination of Iapetus to the local Laplace plane is ~8 deg, which is unexpected,…
Three-dimensional numerical simulations show that large-scale latent heating resulting from condensation of water vapor can produce multiple zonal jets similar to those on the gas giants (Jupiter and Saturn) and ice giants (Uranus and…
The Cassini measurements of C$_2$H$_2$ and C$_2$H$_6$ at $\sim$5 mbar provide a constraint on meridional transport in the stratosphere of Jupiter. We performed a two-dimensional photochemical calculation coupled with mass transport due to…
We investigate the conditions under which the regular satellites of Jupiter and Saturn formed. The final stage of giant planet accretion is thought to occur slowly over a relatively long, 10 Myr, timescale. Gas accretion during this stage,…
TOI-2109b is the ultra-hot Jupiter with the shortest orbital period ($\sim16\,$hr) yet discovered. At this close distance, strong tidal interactions can produce a significant exchange of angular momentum with the star. Since the orbital…
Giant planets like Jupiter and Saturn feature strong zonal wind patterns on their surfaces. Although several different mechanisms that may drive these jets have been proposed over the last decades, the origin of the zonal winds is still…
The seasonal evolution of Saturn's polar atmospheric temperatures and hydrocarbon composition is derived from a decade of Cassini Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) 7-16 $\mu$m thermal infrared spectroscopy. We construct a…
Three-dimensional (3-D) dynamical models of hot Jupiter atmospheres predict very strong wind speeds. For tidally locked hot Jupiters, winds at high altitude in the planet's atmosphere advect heat from the day side to the cooler night side…
We investigate the possibility of substantial inflation of short-period Jupiter-mass planets, as a result of their internal tidal dissipation associated with the synchronization and circularization of their orbits. We employ the simplest…
We analyzed 3 years of data from the Kepler space mission to derive rotation periods of main-sequence stars below 6500 K. Our automated autocorrelation-based method detected rotation periods between 0.2 and 70 days for 34,030 (25.6%) of the…
Computed using the APPLE planetary evolution code, we present updated evolutionary models for Jupiter and Saturn that incorporate helium rain, non-adiabatic thermal structures, and "fuzzy" extended heavy-element cores. Building on our…
Observations of exoplanets over the last two decades have revealed a new class of Jupiter-size planets with orbital periods of a few days, the so-called "hot Jupiters". Recent measurements using the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect have shown…