Related papers: Has Kronos devoured Planet Nine and its epigones?
The observation that the orbits of long-period Kuiper Belt objects are anomalously clustered in physical space has recently prompted the Planet Nine hypothesis - the proposed existence of a distant and eccentric planetary member of our…
In this paper, we investigate whether Uranus's 98$^{\circ}$ obliquity was a by-product of a secular spin-orbit resonance assuming that the planet originated closer to the Sun. In this position, Uranus's spin precession frequency is fast…
We consider a hypothetical planet with the same mass $m$, radius $R$, angular momentum $\boldsymbol{S}$, oblateness $J_2$, semimajor axis $a$, eccentricity $e$, inclination $I$, and obliquity $\varepsilon$ of the Earth orbiting a…
We report 18 years of Doppler shift measurements of a nearby star, 55 Cancri, that exhibit strong evidence for five orbiting planets. The four previously reported planets are strongly confirmed here. A fifth planet is presented, with an…
The motion of Mercury using numerical methods in the framework of a model including only the non-relativistic Newtonian gravitational interactions of the solar system, 9 planets in translation (including Pluto) around the sun has been…
We announce the discovery of a planetary system with 7 transiting planets around a Kepler target, a current record for transiting systems. Planets b, c, e and f are reported for the first time in this work. Planets d, g and h were…
Many of the unusual properties of Pluto's orbit are widely accepted as evidence for the orbital migration of the giant planets in early solar system history. However, some properties remain an enigma. Pluto's long term orbital stability is…
The radii and orbital periods of 4000+ confirmed/candidate exoplanets have been precisely measured by the Kepler mission. The radii show a bimodal distribution, with two peaks corresponding to smaller planets (likely rocky) and larger…
We report the detection of a planet whose orbit surrounds a pair of low-mass stars. Data from the Kepler spacecraft reveal transits of the planet across both stars, in addition to the mutual eclipses of the stars, giving precise constraints…
It has been proposed that mean motion resonances (MMRs) between Planet Nine and distant objects of the scattered disk might inform the semimajor axis and instantaneous position of Planet Nine. Within the context of this hypothesis, the…
The Solar System includes two planets --- Mercury and Mars --- significantly less massive than Earth, and all evidence indicates that planets of similar size orbit many stars. In fact, one of the first exoplanets to be discovered is a…
Many exoplanets have been discovered with radii of 1-4 Earth radii, between that of Earth and Neptune. A number of these are known to have densities consistent with solid compositions, while others are "sub-Neptunes" likely to have…
By telescopic tracking, we have established that the orbit of the trans-neptunian object (2000 CR$_{105}$) has a perihelion of $\simeq$44 AU, and is thus outside the domain controlled by strong gravitational close encounters with Neptune.…
The recent discoveries of giant planets around nearby stars have galvanized the planetary science community, astronomers, and the public at large. Since {\it direct} detection is now feasible, and is suggested by the recent acquisition of…
The trans-Neptunian region of the solar system exhibits an intricate dynamical structure, much of which can be explained by an instability-driven orbital history of the giant planets. However, the origins of a highly inclined, and in…
Debates regarding the age and inclination of the planetary system orbiting HR 8799, and the release of additional astrometric data following the discovery of the fourth planet prompted us to examine the possibility of constraining these two…
We study the masses and radii of 65 exoplanets smaller than 4 Earth radii with orbital periods shorter than 100 days. We calculate the weighted mean densities of planets in bins of 0.5 Earth radii and identify a density maximum of 7.6 g/cc…
General Relativity (GR) quantitatively accounts for the anomalous perihelion precession observed in several planets' orbits, with Mercury exhibiting the most significant deviation from Newtonian predictions. In the present work, I carry out…
We aim to determine the relative angle between the total angular momentum of the minor planets and that of the Sun-planets system, and to improve the orientation of the invariable plane of the solar system. By utilizing physical parameters…
A new class of Kuiper belt objects that lie beyond Neptune with semimajor axes greater than 250 astronomical units show orbital anomalies that have been interpreted as evidence for an undiscovered ninth planet. We show that a modified…