Related papers: The orbit of Planet Nine
Exoplanet characterization is one of the main foci of current exoplanetary science. For super-Earths and sub-Neptunes, we mostly rely on mass and radius measurements, which allow to derive the body's mean density and give a rough estimate…
2009 MS9 is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) whose perihelion brings it close to the distance where some long period comets are seen to become active. Knowing this, and the fact that this object appears to brighten in excess of it's predicted…
Due to their extremely small luminosity compared to the stars they orbit, planets outside our own Solar System are extraordinarily difficult to detect directly in optical light. Careful photometric monitoring of distant stars, however, can…
The Kepler Mission has found thousands of planetary candidates with radii between 1 and 4 R$_\oplus$. These planets have no analogues in our own Solar System, providing an unprecedented opportunity to understand the range and distribution…
Extrasolar planets with sizes between that of the Earth and Neptune ($R_{\rm p}=1{-}4~{\rm R}_\oplus$) have a bimodal radius distribution. This 'planet radius valley' separates compact, rocky super-Earths ($R_{\rm p}=1.0{-}1.8~{\rm…
The hundreds of exoplanets that have been discovered in the past two decades offer a new perspective on planetary structure. Instead of being the archetypal examples of planets, those of our Solar System are merely possible outcomes of…
We present here the first observationally based determination of the rate of occurrence of circumbinary planets. This is derived from the publicly available Kepler data, using an automated search algorithm and debiasing process to produce…
High-contrast near-infrared imaging of the nearby star HR 8799 has shown three giant planets. Such images were possible due to the wide orbits (> 25 AU) and youth (< 100 Myr) of the imaged planets, which are still hot and bright as they…
Models of planet formation have shown that giant planets have a large impact on the number, masses and orbits of terrestrial planets that form. In addition, they play an important role in delivering volatiles from material that formed…
Exomoons are the natural satellites of planets orbiting stars outside our solar system, of which there are currently no confirmed examples. We present new observations of a candidate exomoon associated with Kepler-1625b using the Hubble…
This paper considers the dynamics of scattering of planetesimals or planetary embryos by a planet on a circumstellar orbit. We classify six regions in the planet's mass versus semimajor axis parameter space according to the dominant outcome…
The majority of binary stars do not eclipse. Current searches for transiting circumbinary planets concentrate on eclipsing binaries, and are therefore restricted to a small fraction of potential hosts. We investigate the concept of finding…
Unlike the Solar System planets, thousands of smaller bodies beyond Neptune orbit the Sun on eccentric ($e >$ 0.1) and ($i>$ 3$^\circ$) orbits. While migration of the giant planets during the early stages of Solar System evolution can…
Context: The discovery of distant trans-Neptunian objects has led to heated discussions about the structure of the outer Solar System. Aims: We study the dynamical evolution of small bodies from the Hill regions of migrating giant gaseous…
The stability limit for circumbinary planets (CBPs) is not well defined and can depend on initial parameters defining either the planetary orbit or the inner binary orbit. We expand on the work of Holman & Wiegert (1999, AJ 117, 621) to…
Among exoplanets, the small-size population constitutes the dominant one, with a diversity of properties and compositions ranging from rocky to gas dominated envelope. While a large fraction of them have masses and radii similar to or…
The Galaxy's most common known planetary systems have several Earth-to-Neptune-size planets in compact orbits. At small orbital separations, larger planets are less common than their smaller counterparts by an order of magnitude. The young…
In part I, using an effective computational approach, we have reconstructed the population of dust sources between Jupiter and Neptune. Here, in part II, we present the results on distribution of dust produced by 157 real sources (100…
The Earth, Venus, Mars, and some extrasolar terrestrial planets have a mass and radius that is consistent with a mass fraction of about 30% metallic core and 70% silicate mantle. At the inner frontier of the solar system, Mercury has a…
We report a detailed characterization of the Kepler-19 system. This star was previously known to host a transiting planet with a period of 9.29 days, a radius of 2.2 R$_\oplus$ and an upper limit on the mass of 20 M$_\oplus$. The presence…