Related papers: Memoirs of a giant planet
The observed exoplanet population exhibits a scarcity of short-period Saturn-mass planets, a phenomenon referred to as the ``hot Saturn desert". This observational scarcity can be utilized to validate the theories regarding the formation…
Spacecraft and ground-based observations show that the main rings of Saturn lack particles larger than 10 m. Tidal or collisional destruction of satellites/comets have been proposed as the origin of the main rings; however, Saturn's tide…
Jupiter's weather layer exhibits long-term and quasi-periodic cycles of meteorological activity that can completely change the appearance of its belts and zones. There are cycles with intervals from 4 to 9 years, dependent on the latitude,…
Every 19 years, Saturn passes through Jupiter's 'flapping' magnetotail. Here, we report Chandra X-ray observations of Saturn planned to coincide with this rare planetary alignment and to analyse Saturn's magnetospheric response when…
Spokes are localized clouds of fine particles that appear over the outer part of Saturn's B ring. Over the course of the Cassini Mission, the Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) obtained over 20,000 images of the outer B ring, providing the…
In recent years, technical and theoretical work to detect moons and rings around exoplanets has been attempted. The small mass/size ratios between moons and planets means this is very challenging, having only one exoplanetary system where…
Using numerical simulations, we show that smooth migration of the giant planets through a planetesimal disk leads to an orbital architecture that is inconsistent with the current one: the resulting eccentricities and inclinations of their…
Tidal effects in planetary systems are the main driver in the orbital migration of natural satellites. They result from physical processes occurring deep inside celestial bodies, whose effects are rarely observable from surface imaging. For…
We study the possibility that the mutual interactions between Jupiter and Saturn prevented Type II migration from driving these planets much closer to the Sun. Our work extends previous results by Masset and Snellgrove (2001), by exploring…
We analyze data retrieved by the Imaging Science System onboard the Cassini spacecraft to study the horizontal velocity and vorticity fields of Saturn's Polar Regions (latitudes 60-90$^\circ$N in June-December 2013 and 60-90$^\circ$S in…
Gas giant planets are differentially rotating magnetic objects that have strong and complex interactions with their environment. In our Solar system, they interact with their numerous moons while exoplanets with very short orbital periods…
We report the discovery of several large "propeller" moons in the outer part of Saturn's A ring, objects large enough to be followed over the 5-year duration of the Cassini mission. These are the first objects ever discovered that can be…
We study the dynamical evolution of the gravitational-wave driven instability of the f-mode in rapidly rotating relativistic stars. With an approach based on linear perturbation theory we describe the evolution of the mode amplitude and…
We present 'empirical' models (pressure vs. density) of Saturn's interior constrained by the gravitational coefficients J_2, J_4, and J_6 for different assumed rotation rates of the planet. The empirical pressure-density profile is…
Hundred meter sized objects have been identified by the Cassini spacecraft in Saturn's A ring through the so-called "propeller" features they create in the ring. These moonlets should migrate, due to their gravitational interaction with the…
Saturn's dynamic F-Ring still presents a challenge for understanding and explaining the kinematic processes that lead to the changing structure visible in our observations of this ring. This study examines the effect of Saturn's magnetic…
The disruption of an icy moon in a collision with an interloping comet a few hundred million years ago is a simple way to create Saturn's rings. A ring parent moon with a mass comparable to Mimas could be trapped in mean motion resonance…
Recent results have shown that many of the known extrasolar planetary systems contain regions which are stable for massless test particles. We examine the possibility that Saturn-mass planets exist in these systems, just below the detection…
The appearance of debris disks around distant stars depends upon the scattering/phase function (SPF) of the material in the disk. However, characterizing the SPFs of these extrasolar debris disks is challenging because only a limited range…
I consider a Jovian planet on a highly eccentric orbit around its host star, a situation produced by secular interactions with its planetary or stellar companions. The tidal interactions at every periastron passage exchange energy between…