Related papers: Updated Studies on Exomoons in the HD 23079 System
The internal thermal and magnetic evolution of rocky exoplanets is critical to their habitability. We focus on the thermal-orbital evolution of Earth-mass planets around low mass M stars whose radiative habitable zone overlaps with the…
The discovery of planetary systems beyond the solar system has revealed a diversity of architectures, most of which differ significantly from our system. The initial detection of an exoplanet is often followed by subsequent discoveries…
The search for extrasolar planets is strongly motivated by the goal of characterizing how frequent habitable worlds and life may be within the Galaxy. Whilst much effort has been spent on searching for Earth-like planets, large moons may…
The distribution of the orbits of close-in exoplanets shows evidence for on-going removal and destruction by tides. Tides raised on a planet's host star cause the planet's orbit to decay, even after the orbital eccentricity has dropped to…
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 reexamine the popular belief that a telluric planet or satellite on an eccentric orbit can, outside a spin-orbit resonance, be captured in a quasi-static tidal equilibrium called pseudosynchronous rotation. The existence of such…
Precise exoplanet characterization requires precise classification of exoplanet host stars. The masses of host stars are commonly estimated by comparing their spectra to those predicted by stellar evolution models. However,…
Measuring the albedo of an extrasolar planet provides insights into its atmospheric composition and its global thermal properties, including heat dissipation and weather patterns. Such a measurement requires very precise photometry of a…
Tidal heating of exomoons may play a key role in their habitability, since the elevated temperature can melt the ice on the body even without significant solar radiation. The possibility of life is intensely studied on Solar System moons…
We present Spitzer 8 micron transit observations of the extrasolar planet system HD 149026. At this wavelength, transit light curves are weakly affected by stellar limb-darkening, allowing for a simpler and more accurate determination of…
Accurately modeling effects from stellar activity is a key step in detecting radial velocity signals of low-mass and long-period exoplanets. Radial velocities from stellar activity are dominated by magnetic active regions that move in and…
We report on the first extra-solar planet discovered with the brand new HARPS instrument. The planet is a typical 'hot Jupiter' with m2sini = 0.62 MJup and an orbital period of 3.39 days, but from the photometric follow-up of its parent…
The recent discovery of a three-planet extrasolar system of HR 8799 by Marois et al. is a breakthrough in the field of the direct imaging. This great achievement raises questions on the formation and dynamical stability of the HR 8799…
The discovery of Jupiter-mass planets in close orbits about their parent stars has challenged models of planet formation. Recent observations have shown that a number of these planets have highly inclined, sometimes retrograde orbits about…
Despite years of high accuracy observations, none of the available theoretical techniques has yet allowed the confirmation of a moon beyond the solar system. Methods are currently limited to masses about an order of magnitude higher than…
We provide a detailed theoretical study aimed at the observational finding about the nu Octantis binary system that indicates the possible existence of a Jupiter-type planet in this system. If a prograde planetary orbit is assumed, it has…
In recent years it has been shown that the tidal coupling between extrasolar planets and their stars could be an important mechanism leading to orbital evolution. Both the tides the planet raises on the star and vice versa are important and…
(Abridged) In recent years, ground-based high-resolution spectroscopy has become a powerful tool for investigating exoplanet atmospheres. It allows the robust identification of molecular species, and it can be applied to both transiting and…
The orbital architectures of short-period exoplanet systems are shaped by tidal dissipation in their host stars. For low-mass M-dwarfs whose dynamical tidal response comprises a dense spectrum of inertial modes at low frequencies, resolving…
Tidal dissipation in late-type stars is presently poorly understood and the study of planetary systems hosting hot Jupiters can provide new observational constraints to test proposed theories. We focus on systems with F-type main-sequence…