Related papers: Stellar Encounters with the Beta Pictoris Planetes…
We present deep HST/STIS coronagraphic images of the Beta Pic debris disk obtained at two epochs separated by 15 years. The new images and the re-reduction of the 1997 data provide the most sensitive and detailed views of the disk at…
We have computed trajectories, distances and times of closest approaches to the Sun by stars in the Solar neighbourhood with known position, radial velocity and proper motions. For this purpose we have used a full potential model of the…
The census of stellar and substellar companions of nearby stars is largely incomplete. It is, however, fundamentally important in the understanding of the stellar and planetary formation and evolution mechanisms. We aim to characterize the…
Although the majority of radial velocity detected planets have been found orbiting solar-type stars, a fraction of them have been discovered around giant stars. These planetary systems have revealed different orbital properties when…
We have used deep V-band and JHKs-band observations to investigate variability and stellar populations near the Galactic plane in Centaurus, and compared the observations with the Galactic model of Besancon. By applying image subtraction…
Resolved observations of millimetre-sized dust, tracing larger planetesimals, have pinpointed the location of 26 Edgeworth-Kuiper belt analogs. We report that a belt's distance $R$ to its host star correlates with the star's luminosity…
Alpha Centauri is a triple stellar system, and it contains the closest star to Earth (Proxima Centauri). Over the last decades, the stars in Alpha Cen and their orbits have been investigated in great detail. However, the possible scenarios…
It has recently been stated that the warp structure observed around the star Beta Pictoris may be due to four planets embedded in its debris disk (Wahhaj et al., 2003). It, therefore, becomes important to investigate for what range of…
We investigate the effects of a passing stellar encounter on a planetesimal disk through analytical calculations and numerical simulations, and derive the boundary radius ($a_{\rm planet}$) outside which planet formation is inhibited by…
We have conducted an angular differential imaging survey with NIRC2 at Keck in search of close-in substellar companions to a sample of seven systems with confirmed planetary-mass companions (PMCs) on wide orbits (>50 AU). These…
We present photometric ISO 60 and 170um measurements, complemented by some IRAS data at 60um, of a sample of 84 nearby main-sequence stars of spectral class A, F, G and K in order to determine the incidence of dust disks around such…
We conducted a survey for infrared excess emission from 16 nearby main sequence shell stars using the Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer (MIPS) on the Spitzer Space Telescope. Shell stars are early-type stars with narrow absorption…
Aims. The aim of our work is to analyze the light curves of $\beta$ Pic recently observed by TESS in sectors 32, 33, and 34, searching for the signatures of exocomet transits. Methods. We process the $\beta$ Pic light curves from the MAST…
We present the direct imaging discovery of a giant planet orbiting the young star AF Lep, a 1.2 $M_{\odot}$ member of the 24 $\pm$ 3 Myr $\beta$ Pic moving group. AF Lep was observed as part of our ongoing high-contrast imaging program…
The $\beta$ Pictoris system is the closest known stellar system with directly detected gas giant planets, an edge-on circumstellar disc, and evidence of falling sublimating bodies and transiting exocomets. The inner planet, $\beta$ Pictoris…
We have investigated effects of early stellar encounters on a protoplanetary disk (planetesimal disk) and found that they can explain the high eccentricities and inclinations observed in the outer part ($>42$AU) of the Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt…
Young intermediate-mass stars have become high-priority targets for direct-imaging planet searches following the recent discoveries of planets orbiting e.g. HR 8799 and Beta Pictoris. Close stellar companions to these stars can affect the…
In this paper a simple analytical model for the steady-state evolution of debris disks due to collisions is confronted with Spitzer observations of main sequence A stars. All stars are assumed to have planetesimal belts with a distribution…
We have reanalyzed data for the proposed moving group associated with beta Pic in order to determine if the group (or part of it) is real, and, if so, to derive an improved age estimate for beta Pic. By using new, more accurate proper…
Strong encounters between single stars and binaries play a pivotal role in the evolution of star clusters. Such encounters can also dramatically modify the orbital parameters of binaries, exchange partners in and out of binaries, and are a…