Related papers: Mass of the Kuiper Belt
We present new observations of the Kuiper belt analogues around HD 38858 and HD 20794, hosts of super-Earth mass planets within 1 au. As two of the four nearby G-type stars (with HD 69830 and 61 Vir) that form the basis of a possible…
The detached transneptunian objects (TNOs) are those with semimajor axes beyond the 2:1 resonance with Neptune, which are neither resonant nor scattering. Using the detached sample from the OSSOS telescopic survey, we produce the first…
The boundaries of the Uranian epsilon, alpha, and beta rings can be fitted by Keplerian ellipses. The pair of ellipses that outline a given ring share a common line of apsides. Apse alignment is surprising because the quadrupole moment of…
It has been observed that binary Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) exist contrary to theoretical expectations. Their creation presents problems to most current models. However, the inclusion of a third body (for example, one of the outer planets)…
There is a complex inclination structure present in the transneptunian object (TNO) orbital distribution in the main classical belt region (between orbital semimajor axes of 39 and 48 au). The long-term gravitational effects of the giant…
It has been proposed that mean motion resonances (MMRs) between Planet Nine and distant objects of the scattered disk might inform the semimajor axis and instantaneous position of Planet Nine. Within the context of this hypothesis, the…
The longitudes of perihelia and orbital poles of the solar system's dozen or so most remote detected objects are clustered in a manner inconsistent with that of a random sample of uniformly distributed orbits. While small number statistics…
The rotation rates in the deep interior and at the surface of 22 main-sequence stars with masses between $1.0$ and $1.6\,{\rm M}_{\odot}$ are constrained by combining asteroseismological analysis with spectroscopic measurements. The…
Near Earth Objects (NEOs) are a transient population of small bodies with orbits near or in the terrestrial planet region. They represent a mid-stage in the dynamical cycle of asteroids and comets, which starts with their removal from the…
The outcome of collisions between small icy bodies, such as Kuiper belt objects, is poorly understood and yet a critical component of the evolution of the trans-Neptunian region. The expected physical properties of outer solar system…
We present the results of a wide-field survey for distant Sedna-like bodies in the outer solar system using the 1.2-m Samuel Oschin Telescope at Palomar Observatory. We searched ~12,000 square degrees down to a mean limiting magnitude of…
The dynamically cold component of the Kuiper Belt is host to a population of very widely separated, near-equal mass binary systems. Such binaries, representing the tail of the separation distribution of the more common, more tightly-bound…
A new class of Kuiper belt objects that lie beyond Neptune with semimajor axes greater than 250 astronomical units show orbital anomalies that have been interpreted as evidence for an undiscovered ninth planet. We show that a modified…
The high-inclination population in the 4:7 mean motion resonance (MMR) with Neptune has also substantial eccentricities ($e\gtrsim0.1$), with more inclined objects tending to occupy more eccentric orbits. For this high-order resonance,…
The outer solar system is theoretically predicted to harbour an undiscovered planet, often referred to as P9. Simulations suggest that its gravitational influence could explain the unusual clustering of minor bodies in the Kuiper Belt.…
The discovery of binaries in each of the major populations of minor bodies in the solar system is propelling a rapid growth of heretofore unattainable physical information. The availability of mass and density constraints for minor bodies…
Escalating observations of exo-minor planets and their destroyed remnants both passing through the solar system and within white dwarf planetary systems motivate an understanding of the orbital history and fate of exo-Kuiper belts and…
Migration of trans-Neptunian objects to the Earth is considered. Due to the gravitational influence of large trans-Neptunian objects and mutual collisions, some objects can get such orbits, from which they can be moved inside the Solar…
The Kepler Mission has discovered thousands of planets with radii $<4\ R_\oplus$, paving the way for the first statistical studies of the dynamics, formation, and evolution of these sub-Neptunes and super-Earths. Planetary masses are an…
We have evaluated the rate at which the asteroid belt is losing material, and how it splits between macroscopic bodies and meteoritic dust. The mass loss process is due to the injection of asteroid fragments into unstable dynamical regions,…