Dust in the Solar System and other Planetary Systems, Proceedings of the IA U Colloquium 181 held at the University of Kent

2002 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Planetary Systems ◽  
The University

From Dust to Life

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Chambers ◽  
Jacqueline Mitton
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Extrasolar Planets ◽  
Planetary Systems ◽  
History Of Astronomy ◽  
Human Origins ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Emergence Of Life

The birth and evolution of our solar system is a tantalizing mystery that may one day provide answers to the question of human origins. This book tells the remarkable story of how the celestial objects that make up the solar system arose from common beginnings billions of years ago, and how scientists and philosophers have sought to unravel this mystery down through the centuries, piecing together the clues that enabled them to deduce the solar system's layout, its age, and the most likely way it formed. Drawing on the history of astronomy and the latest findings in astrophysics and the planetary sciences, the book offers the most up-to-date and authoritative treatment of the subject available. It examines how the evolving universe set the stage for the appearance of our Sun, and how the nebulous cloud of gas and dust that accompanied the young Sun eventually became the planets, comets, moons, and asteroids that exist today. It explores how each of the planets acquired its unique characteristics, why some are rocky and others gaseous, and why one planet in particular—our Earth—provided an almost perfect haven for the emergence of life. The book takes readers to the very frontiers of modern research, engaging with the latest controversies and debates. It reveals how ongoing discoveries of far-distant extrasolar planets and planetary systems are transforming our understanding of our own solar system's astonishing history and its possible fate.

Exploring the Solar System

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karel Schrijver
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Planetary Systems ◽  
Interplanetary Dust ◽  
Terrestrial Planets ◽  
The Moon ◽  
System P ◽  
Asteroids And Comets

In this chapter, the author summarizes the properties of the Solar System, and how these were uncovered. Over centuries, the arrangement and properties of the Solar System were determined. The distinctions between the terrestrial planets, the gas and ice giants, and their various moons are discussed. Whereas humans have walked only on the Moon, probes have visited all the planets and several moons, asteroids, and comets; samples have been returned to Earth only from our moon, a comet, and from interplanetary dust. For Earth and Moon, seismographs probed their interior, whereas for other planets insights come from spacecraft and meteorites. We learned that elements separated between planet cores and mantels because larger bodies in the Solar System were once liquid, and many still are. How water ended up where it is presents a complex puzzle. Will the characteristics of our Solar System hold true for planetary systems in general?

The Long View of Planetary Systems

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karel Schrijver
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Milky Way ◽  
Planetary Systems ◽  
Giant Planets ◽  
Milky Way Galaxy ◽  
Population Statistics ◽  
The Past ◽  
General Terms ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
The Universe

How many planetary systems formed before our’s did, and how many will form after? How old is the average exoplanet in the Galaxy? When did the earliest planets start forming? How different are the ages of terrestrial and giant planets? And, ultimately, what will the fate be of our Solar System, of the Milky Way Galaxy, and of the Universe around us? We cannot know the fate of individual exoplanets with great certainty, but based on population statistics this chapter sketches the past, present, and future of exoworlds and of our Earth in general terms.

scholarly journals Bayesian constraints on the origin and geology of exo-planetary material using a population of externally polluted white dwarfs

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
John H D Harrison ◽  
Amy Bonsor ◽  
Mihkel Kama ◽  
Andrew M Buchan ◽  
Simon Blouin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
White Dwarf ◽  
Bayesian Model ◽  
Total Mass ◽  
White Dwarfs ◽  
Bulk Composition ◽  
Planetary Systems ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Planetary Bodies ◽  
Nearby Stars

Abstract White dwarfs that have accreted planetary bodies are a powerful probe of the bulk composition of exoplanetary material. In this paper, we present a Bayesian model to explain the abundances observed in the atmospheres of 202 DZ white dwarfs by considering the heating, geochemical differentiation, and collisional processes experienced by the planetary bodies accreted, as well as gravitational sinking. The majority (>60%) of systems are consistent with the accretion of primitive material. We attribute the small spread in refractory abundances observed to a similar spread in the initial planet-forming material, as seen in the compositions of nearby stars. A range in Na abundances in the pollutant material is attributed to a range in formation temperatures from below 1,000 K to higher than 1,400 K, suggesting that pollutant material arrives in white dwarf atmospheres from a variety of radial locations. We also find that Solar System-like differentiation is common place in exo-planetary systems. Extreme siderophile (Fe, Ni or Cr) abundances in 8 systems require the accretion of a core-rich fragment of a larger differentiated body to at least a 3σ significance, whilst one system shows evidence that it accreted a crust-rich fragment. In systems where the abundances suggest that accretion has finished (13/202), the total mass accreted can be calculated. The 13 systems are estimated to have accreted masses ranging from the mass of the Moon to half that of Vesta. Our analysis suggests that accretion continues for 11Myrs on average.

scholarly journals The interiors of Uranus and Neptune: current understanding and open questions

2020 ◽  
Vol 378 (2187) ◽  
pp. 20190474 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ravit Helled ◽  
Jonathan J. Fortney
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Internal Structure ◽  
Planetary Systems ◽  
Space Missions ◽  
Current Understanding ◽  
Interior Structure ◽  
Distinct Class ◽  
Open Questions

Uranus and Neptune form a distinct class of planets in our Solar System. Given this fact, and ubiquity of similar-mass planets in other planetary systems, it is essential to understand their interior structure and composition. However, there are more open questions regarding these planets than answers. In this review, we concentrate on the things we do not know about the interiors of Uranus and Neptune with a focus on why the planets may be different, rather than the same. We next summarize the knowledge about the planets’ internal structure and evolution. Finally, we identify the topics that should be investigated further on the theoretical front as well as required observations from space missions. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Future exploration of ice giant systems’.

scholarly journals Analysis of Tidal Accelerations in the Solar System and in Extrasolar Planetary Systems

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (18) ◽  
pp. 8624
Author(s):  
Klaus Paschek ◽  
Arthur Roßmann ◽  
Michael Hausmann ◽  
Georg Hildenbrand
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Gold Standard ◽  
Planetary Systems ◽  
Orbital Parameter ◽  
Physical Parameters ◽  
Tidal Forces ◽  
Extrasolar Systems ◽  
Celestial Bodies ◽  
Tidal Acceleration ◽  
Multi Body

Volcanism powered by tidal forces inside celestial bodies can provide enough energy to keep important solvents for living systems in the liquid phase. A prerequisite to calculate such tidal interactions and consequences is depending on simulations for tidal accelerations in a multi-body system. Unfortunately, from measurements in many extrasolar planetary systems, only few physical and orbital parameters are well-known enough for investigated celestial bodies. For calculating tidal acceleration vectors under missing most orbital parameter exactly, a simulation method is developed that is only based on a few basic parameters, easily measurable even in extrasolar planetary systems. Such a method as the one presented here allows finding a relation between the tidal acceleration vectors and potential heating inside celestial objects. Using the values and results of our model approach to our solar system as a “gold standard” for feasibility allowed us to classify this heating in relation to different forms of volcanism. This “gold standard” approach gave us a classification measure for the relevance of tidal heating in other extrasolar systems with a reduced availability of exact physical parameters. We help to estimate conditions for the identification of potential candidates for further sophisticated investigations by more complex established methods such as viscoelastic multi-body theories. As a first example, we applied the procedures developed here to the extrasolar planetary system TRAPPIST-1 as an example to check our working hypothesis.

Epilogue: Paradigms, Problems, and Predictions

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Chambers ◽  
Jacqueline Mitton
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Planetary Systems ◽  
Planetary Science ◽  
Good Time ◽  
Science Program ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Powerful Stimulus ◽  
Rapid Pace ◽  
Over Time

This concluding chapter talks about how astronomers and space agencies in dozens of countries are helping to see the solar system as never before, transforming points of light into real worlds, and even bringing samples of those worlds back to Earth. At the same time, the stunning discovery of hundreds of other planetary systems in the galaxy has provided a powerful stimulus to understand how planetary systems form and evolve, and to find out what makes one system different from another. Moreover, in 2010, NASA announced its latest science plan. One of the key goals for NASA's future planetary science program is to learn how the Sun's family began and how it has changed over time. The chapter argues that the rapid pace of recent developments makes now a good time to take stock of what scholars know, even though the story is still incomplete.

3. Beautiful theories, ugly facts

2021 ◽  
pp. 31-46
Author(s):  
Raymond T. Pierrehumbert
Keyword(s):  
Angular Momentum ◽  
Solar System ◽  
Planetary Systems ◽  
Protoplanetary Disk ◽  
Newtonian Gravity ◽  
The Sun ◽  
French Mathematician ◽  
Modern Form

‘Beautiful theories, ugly facts’ evaluates the theories on planetary systems, particularly the Solar System. In 1734, the Swedish polymath Emmanuel Swedenborg proposed that the Sun and all the planets condensed out of the same ball of gas, in what is probably the earliest statement of the nebular hypothesis. The nebular hypothesis entered something close to its modern form in the hands of the French mathematician Pierre-Simon Laplace, who in 1796 made the clear connection to Newtonian gravity. The angular momentum problem and the structure of a protoplanetary disk, the formation of rocky cores, and the gravitational accretion of gas in the disk also come under this topic.

9. Volcanoes beyond Earth

2020 ◽  
pp. 128-142
Author(s):  
Michael J. Branney ◽  
Jan Zalasiewicz
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Plate Tectonics ◽  
Planetary Systems ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Mountain Belts ◽  
Tectonic Forces

‘Volcanoes beyond Earth’ highlights volcanoes on other planets. There are many more volcanoes on Venus than there are on Earth, and many remain active. In the absence of plate tectonics and the kind of tectonic forces that raise Earth-style mountain belts, and of streams, rivers, and shorelines, it is volcanism and volcanic products that dominate the surface of this planet. Fossil volcanism occurs in the Moon, Mercury, and Mars; Io, the hypervolcanic moon of Jupiter; and the ice volcanoes of the Solar System. There is potential for volcanism on exoplanets within distant planetary systems.

scholarly journals On the survival of resonant and non-resonant planetary systems in star clusters

2020 ◽  
Vol 497 (2) ◽  
pp. 1807-1825
Author(s):  
Katja Stock ◽  
Maxwell X Cai ◽  
Rainer Spurzem ◽  
M B N Kouwenhoven ◽  
Simon Portegies Zwart
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Star Clusters ◽  
Planetary Systems ◽  
Dynamical Evolution ◽  
Giant Planets ◽  
Mean Motion Resonances ◽  
Orbital Parameters ◽  
Eccentric Orbits ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Exoplanet Systems

ABSTRACT Despite the discovery of thousands of exoplanets in recent years, the number of known exoplanets in star clusters remains tiny. This may be a consequence of close stellar encounters perturbing the dynamical evolution of planetary systems in these clusters. Here, we present the results from direct N-body simulations of multiplanetary systems embedded in star clusters containing N = 8k, 16k, 32k, and 64k stars. The planetary systems, which consist of the four Solar system giant planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, are initialized in different orbital configurations, to study the effect of the system architecture on the dynamical evolution of the entire planetary system, and on the escape rate of the individual planets. We find that the current orbital parameters of the Solar system giants (with initially circular orbits, as well as with present-day eccentricities) and a slightly more compact configuration, have a high resilience against stellar perturbations. A configuration with initial mean-motion resonances of 3:2, 3:2, and 5:4 between the planets, which is inspired by the Nice model, and for which the two outermost planets are usually ejected within the first 105 yr, is in many cases stabilized due to the removal of the resonances by external stellar perturbation and by the rapid ejection of at least one planet. Assigning all planets the same mass of 1 MJup almost equalizes the survival fractions. Our simulations reproduce the broad diversity amongst observed exoplanet systems. We find not only many very wide and/or eccentric orbits, but also a significant number of (stable) retrograde orbits.

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