Related papers: Was Proxima captured by alpha Centauri A and B?
This paper investigates the long-term orbital stability of small bodies near the central binary of the Alpha Centauri system. Test particles on circular orbits are integrated in the field of this binary for 32000 binary periods or…
A binary star system is the most common result of the star formation process, and binary companions can disrupt both the formation of terrestrial planets and their long term prospects for stability. We present results from a large set of…
Proxima b is a terrestrial-mass planet in the habitable-zone of Proxima Centauri. Proxima Centauri's high stellar activity however casts doubt on the habitability of Proxima b: sufficiently bright and frequent flares and any associated…
Many planets are observed in stellar binary systems, and their frequency may be comparable to that of planetary systems around single stars. Binary stellar evolution in such systems influences the dynamical evolution of the resident…
Proxima Centauri is the closest star to the Sun. This small, low-mass, mid M dwarf is known to host an Earth-mass exoplanet with an orbital period of 11.2 days within the habitable zone, as well as a long-period planet candidate with an…
Fomalhaut A is among the most well-studied nearby stars and has been discovered to possess a putative planetary object as well as a remarkable eccentric dust belt. This eccentric dust belt has often been interpreted as the dynamical…
Binary and multiple systems constitute more than half of the total stellar population in the Solar neighborhood (Kiseleva-Eggleton and Eggleton 2001). Their frequent occurrence as well as the fact that more than 70 (Schneider et al. 2011)…
Proxima Centauri is known to host an earth-like planet in its habitable zone; very recently a second candidate planet was proposed based on radial velocities. At quadrature, the expected projected separation of this new candidate is larger…
A dynamically relaxed dense cluster comprised of about 40 stars (the so-called S-stars) inhabits the central region of the Galaxy. Their stars revolve around the Sgr A$^*$ massive object. To understand the dynamical evolution of planetary…
About 5-15% of stellar systems are at least triple. About 1% of systems with a primary of $\tgs 1 \Mscun$ are triple with a {\it longer} peri od that is less than 30y, and so may in principle be capable of Roche-lobe overflow in both the…
Given the considerable percentage of stars that are members of binaries or stellar multiples in the Solar neighborhood, it is expected that many of these binaries host planets, possibly even habitable ones. The discovery of a terrestrial…
At a distance of about 4.22 lightyears, it would take about 100,000 years for humans to visit our closest stellar neighbor Proxima Centauri using modern chemical thrusters. New technologies are now being developed that involve high-power…
With hydrodynamical simulations we examine the evolution of a protoplanetary disc around $\alpha$ Centauri B including the effect of the eccentric orbit binary companion $\alpha$ Centauri A. The initially circular orbit disc undergoes two…
We use more than a decade of radial velocity measurements for $\alpha$ Cen A, B, and Proxima Centauri from HARPS, CHIRON, and UVES to identify the $M \sin i$ and orbital periods of planets that could have been detected if they existed. At…
The field of exoplanetary science has seen discovery rates increase dramatically over recent years, due largely to the data from the Kepler mission. Even so, individual discoveries of planets orbiting nearby stars are very important for…
We extend our study of the extent of the regions within the $\alpha$ Centauri AB star system where small planets are able to orbit for billion-year timescales (Quarles & Lissauer 2016, AJ 151, 111) to investigate the effects of minimizing…
Proxima Centauri has become the subject of intense study since the radial-velocity discovery by Anglada-Escud\'e et al. 2016 of a planet orbiting this nearby M-dwarf every ~ 11.2 days. If Proxima Centauri b transits its host star,…
The wide binary orbit of Proxima Centauri around $\alpha$ Centauri A and B differs significantly between Newtonian and Milgromian dynamics (MOND). By combining previous calculations of this effect with mock observations generated using a…
Recent studies have shown that alpha Centauri B might be, from an observational point of view, an ideal candidate for the detection of an Earth-like planet in or near its habitable zone (0.5-0.9AU). We study here if such habitable planets…
Several mission concepts are being studied to directly image planets around nearby stars. It is commonly thought that directly imaging a potentially habitable exoplanet around a Sun-like star requires space telescopes with apertures of at…