Related papers: Theoretical and computational models for Saturn's …
The origins of Uranus and Neptune are not fully understood. Their inclined rotation axes -- obliquities -- suggest that they experienced giant impacts during their formation histories. Simulations modeling their accretion from giant impacts…
Saturn's rings are composed of icy grains, most in the mm to m size ranges, undergoing several collisions per orbit. Their collective behaviour generates a remarkable array of structure over many orders of magnitude, much of it not well…
This work shows the dynamical instability that can happen to close-in satellites when planet oblateness is not accounted for in non-coplanar multiplanet systems. Simulations include two secularly interacting Jupiter-mass planets mutually…
The motions of small moons through Saturn's rings provide excellent tests of radial migration models. In theory, torque exchange between these moons and ring particles leads to radial drift. We predict that moons with Hill radii r_H ~ 2-24…
It is well known that planets with radii between that of Earth and Neptune have been the most commonly detected to-date. To classify these planets as either terrestrial or gaseous, typically we turn to mass-radius relations and composition…
Uranus has three known co-orbitals: 83982 Crantor (2002 GO9), 2010 EU65 and 2011 QF99. Here, we perform a comparative analysis of the orbital evolution of these transient co-orbitals to understand better how they got captured in the first…
The presence of rings and moons around exoplanets is likely to be one of the next great discoveries in exoplanet research. Using theories developed for the Solar System, we explore the possibility of coupled ring-moon cycles around…
Since the discovery of the first exoplanets, those most adequate for life to begin and evolve have been sought. Due to observational bias, however, most of the discovered planets so far are gas giants, precluding their habitability.…
The regular satellites found around Neptune ($\approx 17~M_{\Earth}$) and Uranus ($\approx 14.5~M_{\Earth}$) suggest that past gaseous circumplanetary disks may have co-existed with solids around sub-Neptune-mass protoplanets ($<…
Since 2004, observations of Saturn's F ring have revealed that the ring's core is surrounded by structures with radial scales of hundreds of kilometers, called "spirals" and "jets". Gravitational scattering by nearby moons was suggested as…
Despite many similarities, there are significant observed differences between Uranus and Neptune: while Uranus is tilted and has a regular set of satellites, suggesting their accretion from a disk, Neptune's moons are irregular and are…
Saturn's rings are rock-poor, containing 90%-95% ice by mass. As a group, Saturn's moons interior to and including Tethys are also about 90% ice. Tethys itself contains <6% rock by mass, in contrast to its similar-mass outer neighbor Dione,…
It is thought that, sometime after their formation, the solar system's giant planets experienced a dynamical instability that caused their orbits to excite, diverge, and ejected one or more objects with masses comparable to the ice giants.…
The propagation of small bodies in the Solar system is driven by the combination of planetary encounters that cause abrupt changes in their orbits and secular long-term perturbations. We propose a propagation strategy that combines both of…
Single-binary scattering may lead to an exchange where the single object captures a component of the binary, forming a new binary. This has been well studied in encounters between a star--planet pair and a single star. Here we explore the…
The gravitational influence of a second satellite on the rotation of an oblate moon is numerically examined. A simplified model, assuming the axis of rotation perpendicular to the (Keplerian) orbit plane, is derived. The differences between…
The core mass of Saturn is commonly assumed to be 10-25 ME as predicted by interior models with various equations of state (EOSs) and the Voyager gravity data, and hence larger than that of Jupiter (0-10 ME). We here re-analyze Saturn's…
The $\mu$ and $\nu$ rings of Uranus form a secondary ring-moon system with the satellites Puck, Mab,Portia, and Rosalind. These rings are tenuous and dominated by micrometric particles, which can be strongly disturbed by the solar radiation…
The relativistic perihelion precession due to the three-body interaction is derived. We consider a hierarchical coplanar three-body system, such as the Sun, Jupiter and Saturn, in which both the secondary object as the largest planet…
The small ($\le$ 135 km mean radius) saturnian satellites are closely related to the rings and together they constitute a complex dynamical system where formation and destruction mechanisms compete against each other. We model the cratering…