Related papers: Reassessing the Source of Long-Period Comets
Of the over 800 exoplanets detected to date, over half are on non-circular orbits, with eccentricities as high as 0.93. Such orbits lead to time-variable stellar heating, which has implications for the planet's atmospheric dynamical regime.…
Context. The Stardust flyby mission to Jupiter-family comet (JFC) 81P/Wild 2 (hereafter, 81P) captured its dense quasicircular depressions. Nevertheless, the formation mechanism remains a subject of ongoing debate. Aims. We aimed to study…
Recent observations of small bodies of the Solar System showed evidence of the presence of refractory (asteroidal) material in the Oort cloud. Different models of the origin of the Solar System predict different numbers of rocky objects in…
We analyse the origin of three Centaurs with perihelia in the range 15 AU to 30 AU, inclinations above 70 deg and semi-major axes shorter than 100 AU. Based on long-term numerical simulations we conclude that these objects most likely…
Several globular clusters (GCs) in the Galaxy are observed to show internal abundance spreads in r-process elements (e.g., Eu). We here propose a new scenario which explains the origin of these GCs (e.g., M5 and M15). In this scenario,…
Jupiter's fast rotation - one rotation over 10 hours - creates strong jet streams, smearing its clouds into linear bands of dark and light zonal belts that circle the planet on lines of almost constant latitude. Such a high degree of…
The Centaurs are recent escapees from the Kuiper belt that are destined either to meet fiery oblivion in the hot inner regions of the Solar system or to be ejected to the interstellar medium by gravitational scattering from the giant…
The nature of the icy material accreted by comets during their formation in the outer regions of the protosolar nebula is a major open question in planetary science. Some scenarios of comet formation predict that these bodies agglomerated…
The limited completeness of the Kepler sample for planets with orbital periods $\gtrsim$ 1 yr leaves open the possibility that exoplanetary systems may host undetected giant planets. Should such planets exist, their dynamical interactions…
We present the results of "snapshot" numerical integrations of test particles representing comet-like and asteroid-like objects in the inner solar system aimed at investigating the short-term dynamical evolution of objects close to the…
H$_3^+$ emission is the dominant cooling mechanism in Jupiter's thermosphere and a useful probe of temperature and ion densities. The H$_3^+$ ion is predicted to form in the thermospheres of close-in `hot Jupiters' where its emission would…
A giant impact has been proposed as a possible formation mechanism for Jupiter's dilute core -- the planet's inferred internal structure in which the transition between its core of heavy elements and its predominantly hydrogen-helium…
More than two decades after the widespread detection of Jovian-class planets on short-period orbits around other stars, their dynamical origins remain imperfectly understood. In the traditional narrative, these highly irradiated giant…
In part I, using an effective computational approach, we have reconstructed the population of dust sources between Jupiter and Neptune. Here, in part II, we present the results on distribution of dust produced by 157 real sources (100…
We report the discovery of activity emanating from (18916) 2000 OG44 (alternately designated 1977 SD), a minor planet previously reported to be both an extinct comet or an asteroid on a cometary orbit. We observed 2000 OG44 with a thin tail…
Our solar system's path has recently been shown to potentially intersect dense interstellar clouds 2 and 7 million years ago: the Local Lynx of Cold Cloud and the edge of the Local Bubble. These clouds compressed the heliosphere, directly…
Discovery of hot Jupiter exo-planets, those with anomalously inflated size and low density relative to Jupiter, has evoked much discussion as to possible sources of internal heat production. But to date, no explanations have come forth that…
Although statistical evidence is not overwhelming, possible support for an approximately 35 million year periodicity in the crater record on Earth could indicate a nonrandom underlying enhancement of meteorite impacts at regular intervals.…
The Cassini and Juno probes have revealed large coherent cyclonic vortices in the polar regions of Saturn and Jupiter, a dramatic contrast from the east-west banded jet structure seen at lower latitudes. Debate has centered on whether the…
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…