Related papers: Volatile evolution and atmospheres of Trans-Neptun…
The low equilibrium temperatures of temperate sub-Neptunes lead to extremely long chemical timescales in their upper atmospheres, causing the abundances of chemical species to be strongly shaped by atmospheric transport. Here, we used a…
This brief review will discuss the current knowledge on the origin and evolution of the nitrogen atmospheres of the icy bodies in the solar system, particularly of Titan, Triton and Pluto. An important tool to analyse and understand the…
Studies of the atmospheres of hot Jupiters reveal a diversity of atmospheric composition and haze properties. Similar studies on individual smaller, temperate planets are rare due to the inherent difficulty of the observations and also to…
We analyze the uncertainty in grain size estimation of pure methane (CH4) and nitrogen saturated with methane (N2:CH4) ices, the most abundant volatile materials on trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) and Kuiper belt objects (KBOs). We compare…
Recent transit observations of K2-18b and TOI-270d revealed strong molecular absorption signatures, lending credence to the idea that temperate sub-Neptunes (T$_\mathrm{eq}$=250-400K) have upper atmospheres mostly free of aerosols. These…
A substantial fraction of our solar system's trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) are in mean motion resonance with Neptune. Many of these objects were likely caught into resonances by planetary migration---either smooth or…
The migration of Neptune's resonances through the proto-Kuiper belt has been imprinted in the distribution of small bodies in the outer Solar System. Here we analyze five published Neptune migration models in detail, focusing on the high…
The recent discovery of two large trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) 2003 UB313 and 2005 FY9, with surface properties similar to those of Pluto, provides an exciting new laboratory for the study of processes considered for Pluto and Triton:…
\ Nitrous oxide (N$_2$O) ice is likely to exist in trans-Neptunian objects such as Pluto and Triton, potentially formed through ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the Sun or cosmic ray irradiation of N$_2$ and CO ices. However, the…
The properties of superdense matter in neutron star (NS) cores control NS thermal states by affecting the efficiency of neutrino emission from NS interiors. To probe these properties we confront the theory of thermal evolution of NSs with…
We present new optical reflectance spectra of three potentially silicate-rich trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs). These spectra were obtained with the aim of confirming past hints and detections of 0.7 micron absorption features associated with…
Triton possesses a thin atmosphere, primarily composed of nitrogen, sustained by the sublimation of surface ices. The goal is to determine the composition of Triton's atmosphere and to constrain the nature of surface-atmosphere…
Spitzer Space Telescope infrared observations indicate that several transiting extrasolar giant planets have thermal inversions in their upper atmospheres. Above a relative minimum, the temperature appears to increase with altitude. Such an…
The history of the outer solar system is intrinsically related to the Giant Planets migration. A massive disk of material within a radius of 30~au was scattered during the planetary migration, creating different dynamic populations in the…
Classical novae are stellar explosions occurring in binary systems, consisting of a white dwarf and a main sequence companion. Thermonuclear runaways on the surface of massive white dwarfs, consisting of oxygen and neon, are believed to…
We use a fully 3-dimensional thermal evolution model to examine the effects of a non-uniform surface albedo on the subsurface thermal structure of comets. Surface albedo markings cast "thermal shadows", with strong lateral thermal…
The upper atmospheres of Mars and Titan, as well as those on many other planetary bodies, exhibit significant density variations vs. altitude that are interpreted as gravity waves. Such data is then used to extract vertical temperature…
The possibility of a neutron m=2-superfluid in the interior of neutron stars is investigated. This pairing state is energetically favoured in strong magnetic fields ($H\sim 10^{16}-10^{17}$ G). Because of the node in the angular-dependent…
Some thermonuclear (type I) X-ray bursts at the neutron star surfaces in low-mass X-ray binaries take place during hard persistent states of the systems. Spectral evolution of these bursts is well described by the atmosphere model of a…
Sub-Neptunes (Rp~1.25-4 REarth) remain the most commonly detected exoplanets to date. However, it remains difficult for observations to tell whether these intermediate-sized exoplanets have surfaces and where their surfaces are located.…