Related papers: The Trojan Color Conundrum
We present results of thermal evolution calculations for objects originating in the Kuiper belt and transferring inwards, to the region of the outer planets. Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) are considered to be part of a reservoir that supplies…
We have carried out an extensive study of the possibility of the detection of Earth-mass and super-Earth Trojan planets using transit timing variation method with the Kepler space telescope. We have considered a system consisting of a…
We show that stars with transiting planets for which the stellar obliquity is large are preferentially hot (T_eff > 6250 K). This could explain why small obliquities were observed in the earliest measurements, which focused on relatively…
Deciphering the structure of the circumplanetary disk that surrounded Jupiter at the end of its formation is key to understanding how the Galilean moons formed. Three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations have shown that this disk was…
Kuiper belt object (KBO) Eris is exceptionally bright with a greater visible geometric albedo than any other known KBO. Its infrared reflectance spectrum is dominated by methane, which should form tholins that darken the surface on…
Transiting giant planets provide a natural opportunity to examine stellar obliquities, which offer clues about the origin and dynamical histories of close-in planets. Hot Jupiters orbiting Sun-like stars show a tendency for obliquity…
We present new optical broadband colors, obtained with the Keck 1 and Vatican Advanced Technology telescopes, for six objects in the inner classical Kuiper Belt. Objects in the inner classical Kuiper Belt are of interest as they may…
Since early work on the stability of the first Neptunian Trojan, 2001 QR322, suggested that it was a dynamically stable, primordial body, it has been assumed this applies to both that object, and its more recently discovered brethren.…
The irregular satellites of outer planets are thought to have been captured from heliocentric orbits. The exact nature of the capture process, however, remains uncertain. We examine the possibility that irregular satellites were captured…
Determining the binary fraction for a population of asteroids, particularly as a function of separation between the two components, helps describe the dynamical environment at the time the binaries formed, which in turn offers constraints…
The Classical Kuiper Belt is populated by a group of objects with low inclination orbits, reddish colors and usually belonging to a binary system. This so called Cold Classical Kuiper Belt is considered to have been formed in situ from…
We explore conventional Neptune migration model with one additional planet of mass at 0.1-2.0 Me. This planet inhabited in the 3:2 mean motion resonance with Neptune during planet migration epoch, and then escaped from the Kuiper belt when…
We explore the transmission spectrum of the Neptune-class exoplanet GJ 436b, including the possibility that its atmospheric opacity is dominated by a variety of non- equilibrium chemical products. We also validate our transmission code by…
The classical Kuiper belt contains objects both from a low-inclination, presumably primordial, distribution and from a high-inclination dynamically excited population. Based on a sample of classical TNOs with observations at thermal…
The dissipation of the tidal energy deposited on eccentric planets may induce a heating of the planet that affects its atmospheric thermal structure. Here we study the influence of tidal heating on the atmospheric composition of the…
We consider the role of deuterium as a potential marker of location and ambient conditions during the formation of small bodies in our Solar system. We concentrate in particular on the formation of the regular icy satellites of Jupiter and…
The Kuiper Belt (KB) region of the solar system, stretching from 30 to at least 50 AU, contains Pluto-Charon, some ~105 Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) larger than 100 km in diameter, and myriad smaller bodies produced by collisions among KBOs…
Current observation techniques are able to probe the atmosphere of some giant exoplanets and get some clues about their atmospheric composition. However, the chemical compositions derived from observations are not fully understood, as for…
Although the formation and the properties of hot Jupiters (with orbital periods $P<10\,$d) have attracted a great deal of attention, the origins of warm Jupiters ($10<P<100\,$d) are less well-studied. Using a transit timing analysis, we…
Secondary eclipse observations of several of the hottest hot Jupiters show featureless, blackbody-like spectra or molecular emission features, which are consistent with thermal inversions being present in those atmospheres. Theory predicts…