Alignment of the stellar spin with the orbits of a three-planet system
The Sun’s equator and the planets’ orbital planes are nearly aligned, which is presumably a consequence of their formation from a single spinning gaseous disk. For exoplanetary systems this well-aligned configuration is not guaranteed: dynamical interactions may tilt planetary orbits, or stars may b...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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Nature Publishing Group
2013
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/76773 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4265-047X |
| _version_ | 1826216416464863232 |
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| author | Sanchis Ojeda, Roberto Fabrycky, Daniel C. Winn, Joshua Nathan Barclay, Thomas Clarke, Bruce D. Ford, Eric B. Fortney, Jonathan J. Geary, John C. Holman, Matthew J. Howard, Andrew W. Jenkins, Jon M. Koch, David Lissauer, Jack J. Marcy, Geoffrey W. Mullally, Fergal Ragozzine, Darin Seader, Shawn E. Still, Martin Thompson, Susan E. |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics Sanchis Ojeda, Roberto Fabrycky, Daniel C. Winn, Joshua Nathan Barclay, Thomas Clarke, Bruce D. Ford, Eric B. Fortney, Jonathan J. Geary, John C. Holman, Matthew J. Howard, Andrew W. Jenkins, Jon M. Koch, David Lissauer, Jack J. Marcy, Geoffrey W. Mullally, Fergal Ragozzine, Darin Seader, Shawn E. Still, Martin Thompson, Susan E. |
| author_sort | Sanchis Ojeda, Roberto |
| collection | MIT |
| description | The Sun’s equator and the planets’ orbital planes are nearly aligned, which is presumably a consequence of their formation from a single spinning gaseous disk. For exoplanetary systems this well-aligned configuration is not guaranteed: dynamical interactions may tilt planetary orbits, or stars may be misaligned with the protoplanetary disk through chaotic accretion1 , magnetic interactions[superscript 2] or torques from neighbouring stars. Indeed, isolated ‘hot Jupiters’ are often misaligned and even orbiting retrograde[superscript 3, 4]. Here we report an analysis of transits of planets over starspots[superscript 5, 6, 7] on the Sun-like star Kepler-30 (ref. 8), and show that the orbits of its three planets are aligned with the stellar equator. Furthermore, the orbits are aligned with one another to within a few degrees. This configuration is similar to that of our Solar System, and contrasts with the isolated hot Jupiters. The orderly alignment seen in the Kepler-30 system suggests that high obliquities are confined to systems that experienced disruptive dynamical interactions. Should this be corroborated by observations of other coplanar multi-planet systems, then star–disk misalignments would be ruled out as the explanation for the high obliquities of hot Jupiters, and dynamical interactions would be implicated as the origin of hot Jupiters. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T16:47:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/76773 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T16:47:20Z |
| publishDate | 2013 |
| publisher | Nature Publishing Group |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/767732022-10-03T08:18:22Z Alignment of the stellar spin with the orbits of a three-planet system Sanchis Ojeda, Roberto Fabrycky, Daniel C. Winn, Joshua Nathan Barclay, Thomas Clarke, Bruce D. Ford, Eric B. Fortney, Jonathan J. Geary, John C. Holman, Matthew J. Howard, Andrew W. Jenkins, Jon M. Koch, David Lissauer, Jack J. Marcy, Geoffrey W. Mullally, Fergal Ragozzine, Darin Seader, Shawn E. Still, Martin Thompson, Susan E. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics Massachusetts Institute of Technology. School of Science Sanchis Ojeda, Roberto Winn, Joshua Nathan The Sun’s equator and the planets’ orbital planes are nearly aligned, which is presumably a consequence of their formation from a single spinning gaseous disk. For exoplanetary systems this well-aligned configuration is not guaranteed: dynamical interactions may tilt planetary orbits, or stars may be misaligned with the protoplanetary disk through chaotic accretion1 , magnetic interactions[superscript 2] or torques from neighbouring stars. Indeed, isolated ‘hot Jupiters’ are often misaligned and even orbiting retrograde[superscript 3, 4]. Here we report an analysis of transits of planets over starspots[superscript 5, 6, 7] on the Sun-like star Kepler-30 (ref. 8), and show that the orbits of its three planets are aligned with the stellar equator. Furthermore, the orbits are aligned with one another to within a few degrees. This configuration is similar to that of our Solar System, and contrasts with the isolated hot Jupiters. The orderly alignment seen in the Kepler-30 system suggests that high obliquities are confined to systems that experienced disruptive dynamical interactions. Should this be corroborated by observations of other coplanar multi-planet systems, then star–disk misalignments would be ruled out as the explanation for the high obliquities of hot Jupiters, and dynamical interactions would be implicated as the origin of hot Jupiters. United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Science MissionDirectorate) 2013-02-11T20:03:54Z 2013-02-11T20:03:54Z 2012-07 2012-04 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0028-0836 1476-4687 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/76773 Sanchis-Ojeda, Roberto et al. “Alignment of the Stellar Spin with the Orbits of a Three-planet System.” Nature 487.7408 (2012): 449–453. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4265-047X en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature11301 Nature Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ application/pdf Nature Publishing Group arXiv |
| spellingShingle | Sanchis Ojeda, Roberto Fabrycky, Daniel C. Winn, Joshua Nathan Barclay, Thomas Clarke, Bruce D. Ford, Eric B. Fortney, Jonathan J. Geary, John C. Holman, Matthew J. Howard, Andrew W. Jenkins, Jon M. Koch, David Lissauer, Jack J. Marcy, Geoffrey W. Mullally, Fergal Ragozzine, Darin Seader, Shawn E. Still, Martin Thompson, Susan E. Alignment of the stellar spin with the orbits of a three-planet system |
| title | Alignment of the stellar spin with the orbits of a three-planet system |
| title_full | Alignment of the stellar spin with the orbits of a three-planet system |
| title_fullStr | Alignment of the stellar spin with the orbits of a three-planet system |
| title_full_unstemmed | Alignment of the stellar spin with the orbits of a three-planet system |
| title_short | Alignment of the stellar spin with the orbits of a three-planet system |
| title_sort | alignment of the stellar spin with the orbits of a three planet system |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/76773 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4265-047X |
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