Related papers: An Earth-sized exoplanet with a Mercury-like compo…

(abridged) Search for planets around main-sequence (MS) stars more massive than the Sun is hindered by their hot and rapidly spinning atmospheres. This obstacle has been sidestepped by radial-velocity surveys of those stars on their post-MS…

Here it is shown how to find the interior structure of a variety of rock-and-iron planetary bodies by using the rock density and some aspects of the core density as known for the Earth and using a convection principle for the iron-rich…

Three planets with minimum masses less than 10 Earth masses orbit the star HD 40307, suggesting these planets may be rocky. However, with only radial velocity data, it is impossible to determine if these planets are rocky or gaseous. Here…

MESSENGER magnetometer data show that Mercury's magnetic field is not only exceptionally weak but also has a unique geometry. The internal field resembles an axial dipole that is offset to the North by 20% of the planetary radius. This…

The next step on the path toward another Earth is to find atmospheres similar to those of Earth and Venus - high-molecular-weight (secondary) atmospheres - on rocky exoplanets. Many rocky exoplanets are born with thick (> 10 kbar)…

Extra-terrestrial polymers of glycine with iron have been characterized by mass spectrometry to have a core mass of 1494Da with dominant rod-like variants at m/z 1567 and m/z 1639 [1]. Several principal macro-structural morphologies are…

CONTEXT: The small radius and high density of CoRoT-7b implies that this transiting planet belongs to a differen t species than all transiting planets previously found. Current models suggest that this is the first transiting rocky planet…

Kepler-78 (KIC 8435766) was identified by Sanchis-Ojeda et al. (2013) as harbouring a transiting planet of 1.16 times the size of the Earth and an orbital period of only 8.5 hours. While the exquisite Kepler photometry was able to determine…

We have studied planetary systems which are similar to the Solar System and built up from three inner rocky planets (Venus, Earth, Mars) and two outer gas giants. The stability of the orbits of the inner planets is discussed in the cases of…

Planets with sizes between those of Earth and Neptune divide into two populations: purely rocky bodies whose atmospheres contribute negligibly to their sizes, and larger gas-enveloped planets possessing voluminous and optically thick…

The Kepler extended mission, also known as K2, has provided the community with a wealth of planetary candidates that orbit stars typically much brighter than the targets of the original mission. These planet candidates are suitable for…

Interior compositions are key for our understanding of Earth-like exoplanets. The composition of the core can influence the presence of a magnetic dynamo and the strength of gravity on the planetary surface, both of which heavily impact…

Determining the mass-radius ($M$-$R$) relation of exoplanets is important for exoplanet characterization. Here we present a re-analysis of the $M$-$R$ relations and their transitions using exoplanetary data from the PlanetS catalog which…

The evolution of a giant planet within the stellar envelope of a main-sequence star is investigated as a possible mechanism for enhancing the stellar metallicities of the parent stars of extrasolar planetary systems. Three-dimensional…

Kepler-93b is a 1.478 +/- 0.019 Earth radius planet with a 4.7 day period around a bright (V=10.2), astroseismically-characterized host star with a mass of 0.911+/-0.033 solar masses and a radius of 0.919+/-0.011 solar radii. Based on 86…

We explore two ways in which objects of planetary masses can form. One is in disk systems like the solar system. The other is in dense clusters where stars and brown dwarfs form. We do not yet have the instrumental accuracy to detect…

Most detected transiting planets have orbits which would fit within the one of Mercury, exposing them to intense stellar irradiation and interactions that significantly alter their properties. In contrast, colder planets with longer orbital…

Some exoplanets have much higher densities than expected from stellar abundances of planet-forming elements. There are two theories - metal-rich formation hypothesis and naked core hypothesis - that explain how formation and evolution can…

Exoplanet surveys have confirmed one of humanity's (and all teenagers') worst fears: we are weird. If our Solar System were observed with present-day Earth technology -- to put our system and exoplanets on the same footing -- Jupiter is the…

We present results from a Keck/HIRES radial velocity campaign to study four sub-Saturn-sized planets, K2-27b, K2-32b, K2-39b, and K2-108b, with the goal of understanding their masses, orbits, and heavy element enrichment. The planets have…