Related papers: Rings beyond the giant planets
Over the last few years, several close orbiting ($\sim 0.05$ AU) large mass planets ($M \sim M_{Jupiter}$) of nearby stars have been discovered. Their existence has been inferred from tiny doppler shifts in the light from the star. We…
The origin and evolution of Saturn's rings is critical to understanding the Saturnian system as a whole. Here, we discuss the physical and chemical composition of the rings, as a foundation for evolutionary models described in subsequent…
Although the majority of radial velocity detected planets have been found orbiting solar-type stars, a fraction of them have been discovered around giant stars. These planetary systems have revealed different orbital properties when…
The hundreds of exoplanets that have been discovered in the past two decades offer a new perspective on planetary structure. Instead of being the archetypal examples of planets, those of our Solar System are merely possible outcomes of…
All four giant planets and several minor bodies in the Solar System host rings. However, rings around moons have yet to be observed. A host planet can produce magnetic fields that affect its moons, adding a wealth of dynamical phenomena…
Simple theoretical calculations have suggested that small body impacts onto Pluto's newly discovered small satellites, Nix and Hydra, are capable of generating time-variable rings or dust sheets in the Pluto system. Using HST/ACS data…
The search for habitable planets like Earth around other stars fulfils an ancient imperative to understand our origins and place in the cosmos. The past decade has seen the discovery of hundreds of planets, but nearly all are gas giants…
Saturn's F ring is subject to dynamic structural changes over short periods. Among the observed phenomena are diffuse extended bright clumps (ECs) ~ 3-40 degrees in longitudinal extent. These ECs appear, evolve, and disappear over a span of…
The Einstein rings and proper motions of nearby stars tend to be large. Thus, every year some foreground stars within a few hundred parsecs of Earth induce gravitational lensing events in background stars. In some of these cases, the events…
Several anomalous features in the orbital distribution of distant Kuiper Belt objects have recently sparked suggestions of an unseen large planet (or two) orbiting beyond Neptune. I review the theoretical arguments and the prospects for the…
Thousands of confirmed and candidate exoplanets have been identified in recent years. Consequently, theoretical research on the formation and dynamical evolution of planetary systems has seen a boost, and the processes of planet-planet…
Saturn's main rings exhibit variations in both their opacity and spectral properties on a broad range of spatial scales, and the correlations between these parameters can provide insights into the processes that shape the composition and…
A statistical study of the environment around Polar Ring Galaxies is presented. Two kinds of search are performed: 1) a study of the concentration and diameters of all the objects surrounding the Polar Rings, within a search field 5 times…
Planet formation occurs around a wide range of stellar masses and stellar system architectures. An improved understanding of the formation process can be achieved by studying it across the full parameter space, particularly toward the…
Compared to planets around Sun-like stars, relatively little is known about the occurrence rate and orbital properties of planets around stars more massive than 1.3 Msun. The apparent deficit of planets around massive stars is due to a…
Detection of a planetary ring of exoplanets remains as one of the most attractive but challenging goals in the field. We present a methodology of a systematic search for exoplanetary rings via transit photometry of long-period planets. The…
Saturns F-ring is a unique, narrow ring that lies (radially) close to the tidally disruptive Roche limit of water ice for Saturn. Significant work has been done that shows it to be one of the most dynamic places in the Solar System.…
The best constraints on the internal structures of giant planets have historically come from measurements of their gravity fields. These gravity data are inherently mostly sensitive to a planet's outer regions, providing only loose…
We searched for dust or debris rings in the Pluto-Charon system before, during, and after the New Horizons encounter. Methodologies included searching for back-scattered light during the approach to Pluto (phase $\sim15^\circ$), in situ…
We simulate the collision of precursor icy moons analogous to Dione and Rhea as a possible origin for Saturn's remarkably young rings. Such an event could have been triggered a few hundred million years ago by resonant instabilities in a…