Related papers: New Jupiter Satellites and Moon-Moon Collisions

We conduct a systematic survey of the regions in which distant satellites can orbit stably around the four giant planets in the solar system, using orbital integrations of up to $10^9$ yr. In contrast to previous investigations, we use a…

We present a deep optical survey of Uranus' Hill sphere for small satellites. The Subaru 8-m telescope was used to survey about 3.5 square degrees with a 50% detection efficiency at limiting red magnitude m = 26.1 mag. This magnitude…

Using a large suite of n-body simulations, we explore the discovery space for new satellites in the Pluto-Charon system. For the adopted masses and orbits of the known satellites, there are few stable prograde or polar orbits with semimajor…

We surveyed 1.75 square degrees of sky near Neptune to an R-band 50% detection efficiency of 25.8 mags (corresponding to radii of about 17 km for an assumed albedo of 0.04). We discovered one new outer satellite, Psamathe (S/2003 N1), about…

An interesting feature of the giant planets of our solar system is the existence of regions around these objects where no irregular satellites are observed. Surveys have shown that, around Jupiter, such a region extends from the outermost…

Radial velocity surveys suggest that the Solar System may be unusual and that Jupiter-like planets have a frequency <20% around solar-type stars. However, they may be much more common in one of the closest associations in the solar…

We present thermal model fits for 11 Jovian and 3 Saturnian irregular satellites based on measurements from the WISE/NEOWISE dataset. Our fits confirm spacecraft-measured diameters for the objects with in situ observations (Himalia and…

Recent observations of a stellar occultation have revealed the presence of a previously undiscovered small satellite around Quaoar. Orbiting near Quaoar's unusual ring system, this new satellite has the potential to provide significant…

Gomes-J\'unior et al. (2015) published 3613 positions for the 8 largest irregular satellites of Jupiter and 1787 positions for the largest irregular satellite of Saturn, Phoebe. These observations were made between 1995 and 2014 and have an…

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…

We investigate a new theory of the origin of the irregular satellites of the giant planets: capture of one member of a ~100-km binary asteroid after tidal disruption. The energy loss from disruption is sufficient for capture, but it cannot…

Observations of Pluto and its solar-tidal stability zone were made using the Advanced Camera for Surveys' (ACS) Wide Field Channel (WFC) on the Hubble Space Telescope on UT 2005 May 15 and UT 2005 May 18. Two small satellites of Pluto,…

Pluto and its five known satellites form a complex dynamic system. Here we explore where additional satellites could exist exterior to Charon (the innermost moon) but interior of Hydra (the outermost). We also provide dynamical constraints…

We present a medium resolution spectrum of Jupiter's irregular satellite Himalia covering the critical 3 $\mu$m spectral region. The spectrum shows no evidence for aqueously altered phyllosilicates, as had been suggested from the tentative…

Searching for the non-Trojan Jupiter co-orbitals we have numerically integrated orbits of 3\,160 asteroids and 24 comets discovered by October 2010 and situated within and close to the planet co-orbital region. Using this sample we have…

A handful of planetary systems hosting a Hot Jupiter have been subsequently found to also host long-period giant planets. These ``cold Jupiters,'' giant planets residing beyond the snow line ($\sim$3\,au), play an important role in the…

Small-scale waves were observed along the boundary between Jupiter's North Equatorial Belt and North Tropical Zone, ~16.5{\deg} N planetographic latitude in Hubble Space Telescope data in 2012 and throughout 2015 to 2018, observable at all…

We have searched a 2010 archival data set from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope for very small (km-scale) irregular moons of Jupiter in order to constrain the size distribution of these moons down to radii of $\sim 400$~m, discovering 52…

Outer satellites of the planets have distant, eccentric orbits that can be highly inclined or even retrograde relative to the equatorial planes of their planets. These irregular orbits cannot have formed by circumplanetary accretion and are…

We report the discovery of a new ultra-faint dwarf satellite companion of the Milky Way based on the early survey data from the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program. This new satellite, Virgo I, which is located in the constellation…