Related papers: The missing rings around Solar System moons
The orbital evolution and stability of planetary systems with interaction from the belts is studied using the standard phase-plane analysis. In addition to the fixed point which corresponds to the Keplerian orbit, there are other fixed…
A detailed understanding of the physics of star and planet formation requires study of individual objects as well as statistical assessment of global properties and evolutionary trends. Observational investigations of circumstellar material…
Large dips in the brightness for a number of stars have been observed, for which the tentative explanation is occultation of the star by a transiting circumplanetary disk or ring system. In order for the circumplanetary disk/rings to block…
The recent detection of planets around very low mass stars raises the question of the formation, composition and potential habitability of these objects. We use planetary system formation models to infer the properties, in particular their…
Exoplanet surveys have confirmed one of humanity's (and all teenagers') worst fears: we are weird. If our Solar System were observed with present-day Earth technology -- to put our system and exoplanets on the same footing -- Jupiter is the…
Cosmic rays (CRs) play a decisive role within our own Galaxy. They provide partial pressure support against gravity, they trace past energetic events such as supernovae, and they reveal the underlying structure of the baryonic matter…
Mean motion resonances (MMRs) can lead either to chaotic or regular motion. We report on a numerical experiment showing that even in one of the most chaotic regions of the Solar System - the region of the giant planets, there are numerous…
The models that most successfully reproduce the orbital architecture of the Solar System terrestrial planets start from a narrow annulus of material that grows into embryos and then planets. However, it is not clear how this ring model can…
The increasing precision of planetary mass and radius observations is bringing major questions about the structure and formation of planets--such as the nature of the radius valley and origin of super-Mercuries--within reach, demanding the…
All of the known circumbinary planets are large (> 3 Earth radii). Whilst observational biases may account for this dearth of small planets, in this paper we propose a theoretical explanation. Most of the known planets are near the…
Irregular satellites are the minor bodies found orbiting all four Solar System giant planets, with large semi-major axes, eccentricities, and inclinations. Previous studies have determined that the Solar System's irregular satellites are…
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.…
In co-orbital planetary systems, two or more planets share the same orbit around their star. Here we test the dynamical stability of co-orbital rings of planets perturbed by outside forces. We test two setups: i) 'stationary' rings of…
Planetary systems can evolve dynamically even after the planets themselves have fully formed, and there is circumstantial evidence that most planetary systems become unstable after the disappearance of the gaseous protoplanetary disk.…
The interactions among objects in a mean motion resonance are important for the orbital evolution of satellites and rings, especially Saturn's ring arcs and associated moons. In this work, we examine interactions among massive bodies in the…
The Solar system beyond Neptune is believed to house a population of small primordial bodies left over from the planet formation process. The region up to heliocentric distance $\sim 50 AU$ (a.k.a. the Kuiper Belt) may be the source of the…
One of the primary surprises of exoplanet detections has been the discovery of compact planetary systems, whereby numerous planets reside within ~0.5 AU of the host star. Many of these kinds of systems have been discovered in recent years,…
We have conducted an intensive search for any material that may orbit Rhea, using images obtained by the Cassini ISS narrow-angle camera. We find no evidence for any such material, contradicting an earlier and surprising inference that…
Context. Findings by the Helios and STEREO mission have indicated the presence of a resonant circumsolar ring of dust associated with Venus. Attempts to model this phenomenon as an analogue to the resonant ring of Earth - as a result of…
[ABRIDGED] Galaxy evolution is shaped by internal and external mechanisms that regulate the baryon cycle and star formation activity. We present a theoretical framework based on the GAlaxy Evolution and Assembly (GAEA) semi-analytic model.…