The grand tack model, more generally called the Masset and Snellgrove mechanism, is a planetary migration model whereby two giant planets via interactions with their natal disk migrated to larger […]
Protoplanetary Disk
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
Seeing The Unseen: A Method To Detect Unresolved Rings In Protoplanetary Disks
While high resolution ALMA observations reveal a wealth of substructure in protoplanetary discs, they remain incapable of resolving the types of small scale dust structures predicted, for example, by numerical […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Comets and Asteroids, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Meteorites & Asteroids, Status Report
The Nucleosynthetic Fingerprint of the Outermost Protoplanetary Disk and Early Solar System Dynamics
Knowledge of the nucleosynthetic isotope composition of the outermost protoplanetary disk is critical to understand the formation and early dynamical evolution of the Solar System.
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Cryobiology, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Interstellar, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
JWST Sheds Light On The Structure Of Interstellar Water Ice
Using the JWST, a team of researchers including Paola Caselli, Barbara Michela Giuliano and Basile Husquinet from MPE, have probed deep into dense cloud cores, revealing details of interstellar ice […]
Posted inAstrogeology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Jupiter, Saturn, Status Report
The Solar System Could Have Formed in a Low-viscosity Disc: A Dynamical Study From Giant Planet Migration to the Nice Model
In the context of low-viscosity protoplanetary discs (PPDs), the formation scenarios of the Solar System should be revisited. In particular, the Jupiter-Saturn pair has been shown to lock in the […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Unveiling the Internal Structure And Formation History Of The Three Planets Transiting HIP 29442 (TOI-469) With CHEOPS
Multiplanetary systems spanning the radius valley are ideal testing grounds for exploring the proposed explanations for the observed bimodality in the radius distribution of close-in exoplanets. One such system is […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
Mind the Trap: Non-negligible Effect of Volatile Trapping in Ice on C/O Ratios in Protoplanetary Disks and Exoplanetary Atmospheres
The ability of bulk ices (H2O, CO2) to trap volatiles has been well studied in any experimental sense, but largely ignored in protoplanetary disk and planet formation models as well […]
Posted inAstrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
Refining the WASP-132 Multi-planetary System: Discovery of a Cold Giant Planet and Mass Measurement of a hot Super-Earth
Hot Jupiters generally do not have nearby planet companions, as they may have cleared out other planets during their inward migration from more distant orbits.
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Status Report, Stellar Cartography
Revising Properties of Planet-Host Binary Systems. IV. The Radius Distribution of Small Planets in Binary Star Systems is Dependent on Stellar Separation
Small planets (Rp≤4R⊕) are divided into rocky super-Earths and gaseous sub-Neptunes separated by a radius gap, but the mechanisms that produce these distinct planet populations remain unclear.
Posted inAstrochemistry, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Status Report
Binding Energies of Ethanol and Ethylamine on Interstellar Water Ices: Synergy Between Theory and Experiments
Experimental and computational chemistry are two disciplines to conduct research in Astrochemistry, providing essential reference data for both astronomical observations and modeling. These approaches not only mutually support each other, […]