Related papers: Comet Fading Begins Beyond Saturn
Near-Sun Comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) is the first member of a long-period comet group observed to disintegrate well before perihelion. Here we present our investigation into this disintegration event using images obtained in a 3-day {\it Hubble…
As a planet transits the face of a star, it accelerates along the line-of-sight. The changing delay in the propagation of photons produces an apparent deceleration of the planet across the sky throughout the transit. This persistent…
Spectroscopic observations at extreme and far ultraviolet wavelengths have revealed systematic upflows in the solar transition region and corona. These upflows are best seen in the network structures of the quiet Sun and coronal holes,…
In 2010 Jewitt and Li published a paper examining the behavior of comet-asteroid transition object 3200 Phaethon, arguing it was asteroid-like in its behavior throughout most of its orbit, but that near its perihelion, at a distance of only…
We have recently hit the milestone of 5,000 exoplanets discovered. In stark contrast with the Solar System, most of the exoplanets we know to date orbit extremely close to their host stars, causing them to lose copious amounts of gas…
Comet C/2025 K1 (ATLAS) reached perihelion at 0.33 au on 2025 October 8. Daily monitoring by the LCO Outbursting Objects Key Project revealed a major activity increase between November 2 and 4, accompanied by rapid changes in coma…
Analysis of observations of natural and triggered outbursts from different comets testifies in favor of existence of large cavities with material under gas pressure below a considerable fraction of a comet's surface. Based on analysis of…
Natural satellite systems present a large variety of orbital configurations in the solar system. While some are clearly the result of known processes, others still have largely unexplained eccentricity and inclination values. Iapetus has a…
Models of the zodiacal cloud's thermal emission and sporadic meteoroids suggest Jupiter-family comets (JFCs) as the dominant source of interplanetary dust. However, comet sublimation is insufficient to sustain the quantity of dust presently…
Using the Moon to occult the Sun, the Clementine spacecraft used its navigation cameras to map the inner zodiacal light at optical wavelengths over elongations of 3-30 degrees from the Sun. This surface brightness map is then used to infer…
Magnetic switchbacks are fluctuations in the solar wind in which the interplanetary magnetic field sharply deflects away from its background direction so as to create folds in magnetic field lines while remaining of roughly constant…
Stellar occultations provide a powerful tool to explore objects of the outer solar system. The Gaia mission now provides milli-arcsec accuracy on the predictions of these events and makes possible observations that were previously…
Orbits of close-in planets can shrink significantly due to dissipation of tidal energy in a host star. This process can result in star-planet coalescence within the Galactic lifetime. In some cases, such events can be accompanied by an…
Advances in the discovery and characterization of asteroids over the past decade have revealed an unanticipated underlying structure that points to a dramatic early history of the inner Solar System. The asteroids in the main asteroid belt…
Here, we continue this research with a detailed study of their past and future motion during previous and next orbital periods under the perturbing action of our Galactic environment. At all stages of our dynamical study, we precisely…
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…
X-rays and extreme ultraviolet radiation impacting on a gas produce a variety of effects that, depending on the electron content, may provide a significant heating of the illuminated region. In a planetary atmosphere of solar composition,…
The discovery of Sedna places new constraints on the origin and evolution of our solar system. Here we investigate the possibility that a close encounter with another star produced the observed edge of the Kuiper belt, at roughly 50 AU, and…
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…
Gateway Centaur and Jupiter co-orbital P/2019 LD2 (ATLAS) (Sarid et al. 2019) provides the first opportunity to observe the migration of a Solar System small body from a Centaur orbit to a Jupiter Family Comet (JFC) four decades from now…