Related papers: Structure of Possible Long-lived Asteroid Belts
While of order a million asteroids have been discovered, the number in rigorously controlled samples that have precise orbits and rotation periods, as well as well-measured colors, is relatively small. In particular, less than a dozen…
Boulders are ubiquitously found on the surfaces of small rocky bodies in the inner solar system and their spatial and size distributions give insight into the geological evolution and collisional history of the parent bodies. Using images…
A recent ALMA image revealed several concentric gaps in the protoplanetary disk surrounding the young star HL Tau. We consider the hypothesis that these gaps are carved by planets, and present a general framework for understanding the…
Recent exoplanet observations reported a large number of multiple-planet systems, in which some of the planets are in a chain of resonances. The fraction of resonant systems to non-resonant systems provides clues about their formation…
We study the orbital stability of a non-zero mass, close-in circular orbit planet around an eccentric orbit binary for various initial values of the binary eccentricity, binary mass fraction, planet mass, planet semi--major axis, and planet…
We propose that extrasolar asteroid belts can be detected through their gravitational microlensing signatures. Asteroid belt + star lens systems create so-called "pseudo-caustics", regions in the source plane where the magnification…
The distribution of heavy elements is anomalously low in the asteroid main belt region compared with elsewhere in the solar system. Observational surveys also indicate a deficit in the number of small ($ \le 50$~km size) asteroids that is…
We have studied planetary systems which are similar to the Solar System and built up from three inner rocky planets (Venus, Earth, Mars) and two outer gas giants. The stability of the orbits of the inner planets is discussed in the cases of…
Satellites of asteroids have been discovered in nearly every known small body population, and a remarkable aspect of the known satellites is the diversity of their properties. They tell a story of vast differences in formation and evolution…
Uncovering the formation process that reproduces the distinct properties of compact super-Earth exoplanet systems is a major goal of planet formation theory. The most successful model argues that non-resonant systems begin as resonant…
The main asteroid belt (MAB) is known to be primarily composed of objects from two distinct taxonomic classes, generically defined here as S- and C-complex. The former probably originated from the inner solar system (interior to Jupiter's…
Most asteroids are somewhat elongated and have non-zero lightcurve amplitudes. Such asteroids can be detected in large-scale sky surveys even if their mean magnitudes are fainter than the stated sensitivity limits. We explore the detection…
Although the discovery of the chaotic motion of the inner planets in the solar system dates back to more than thirty years ago, the secular chaos of their orbits still dares more analytical analyses. Apart from the high-dimensional…
It often seems as though papers bearing titles in the form of a question end with ambiguous answers. Here the situation is different: the outer Kuiper belt does have a definite future, although one of uncertain duration. Simulations provide…
Context: Observation of star occultations is a powerful tool to determine shapes and sizes of asteroids. This is key information necessary for studying the evolution of the asteroid belt and to calibrate indirect methods of size…
We have carried out a search for Main Belt Asteroids (MBAs) co-orbiting with the large MBA Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres. Through improving the search criteria used in (Christou, 2000b) and numerical integrations of candidate coorbitals,…
Although the search for extra-solar co-orbital bodies has not had success so far, it is believed that they must be as common as they are in the Solar System. Co-orbital systems have been widely studied, and there are several works on…
We investigate the collective behaviour of particle orbits in the vicinity of magnetic reconnection in Earth's magneto-tail. Various regions of different kinds of orbital stability of particle motions are found. We locate regimes of…
The very wide binary asteroid (VWBA) population is a small subset of the population of known binary and multiple asteroids made of systems with very widely orbiting satellites and long orbital periods, on the order of tens to hundreds of…
The area of stable motion for fictitious Trojan asteroids around Uranus' equilateral equilibrium points is investigated with respect to the inclination of the asteroid's orbit to determine the size of the regions and their shape. For this…