Planetary system

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
"Solar systems" redirects here. For the Sun and its planetary system, see Solar System. For a system of stars, see Star system. For the solar power company, see Solar Systems (company).

An artist's concept of a planetary system

A planetary system is a set of

circumstellar disks. The Sun together with the planetary system revolving around it, including Earth, forms the Solar System.[3][4]
The term exoplanetary system is sometimes used in reference to other planetary systems.

As of 1 April 2024, there are 5,653 confirmed exoplanets in 4,161 planetary systems, with 896 systems having more than one planet.[5] Debris disks are also known to be common, though other objects are more difficult to observe.

Of particular interest to astrobiology is the habitable zone of planetary systems where planets could have surface liquid water, and thus the capacity to support Earth-like life.

History

Heliocentrism

Historically,

geocentrism
(placing Earth at the centre of the universe).

The notion of a heliocentric Solar System with the

Āryabhaṭīya
as implicitly heliocentric.

The idea was first proposed in

Greek astronomy as early as the 3rd century BC by Aristarchus of Samos,[6]
but received no support from most other ancient astronomers.

Discovery of the Solar System

Main article: Discovery and exploration of the Solar System
Copernicus' manuscript

Sir Isaac Newton developed an understanding of physics
which led to the gradual acceptance of the idea that the Earth moves around the Sun and that the planets are governed by the same physical laws that governed Earth.

Speculation on extrasolar planetary systems

In the 16th century the Italian philosopher Giordano Bruno, an early supporter of the Copernican theory that Earth and other planets orbit the Sun, put forward the view that the fixed stars are similar to the Sun and are likewise accompanied by planets. He was burned at the stake for his ideas by the Roman Inquisition.[7]

In the 18th century the same possibility was mentioned by

Principia. Making a comparison to the Sun's planets, he wrote "And if the fixed stars are the centres of similar systems, they will all be constructed according to a similar design and subject to the dominion of One."[8]

His theories gained traction[colloquialism] through the 19th and 20th centuries despite a lack of supporting evidence. Long before their confirmation by astronomers, conjecture on the nature of planetary systems had been a focus of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence and has been a prevalent theme in fiction, particularly science fiction.

Detection of exoplanets

The first confirmed detection of an

Kepler mission
.

Origin and evolution

See also: Nebular hypothesis, Planetary migration, and Formation and evolution of the Solar System
Illustration of the dynamics of a proplyd

Planetary systems come from protoplanetary disks that form around stars as part of the process of star formation.

During formation of a system, much material is gravitationally-scattered into distant orbits, and some planets are ejected completely from the system, becoming rogue planets.

Evolved systems

High-mass stars

Planets orbiting pulsars have been discovered. Pulsars are the remnants of the supernova explosions of high-mass stars, but a planetary system that existed before the supernova would likely be mostly destroyed. Planets would either evaporate, be pushed off of their orbits by the masses of gas from the exploding star, or the sudden loss of most of the mass of the central star would see them escape the gravitational hold of the star, or in some cases the supernova would kick the pulsar itself out of the system at high velocity so any planets that had survived the explosion would be left behind as free-floating objects. Planets found around pulsars may have formed as a result of pre-existing stellar companions that were almost entirely evaporated by the supernova blast, leaving behind planet-sized bodies. Alternatively, planets may form in an accretion disk of fallback matter surrounding a pulsar.[9] Fallback disks of matter that failed to escape orbit during a supernova may also form planets around black holes.[10]

Lower-mass stars

Protoplanetary discs observed with the Very Large Telescope.[11]

As stars evolve and turn into red giants, asymptotic giant branch stars, and planetary nebulae they engulf the inner planets, evaporating or partially evaporating them depending on how massive they are.[12][13] As the star loses mass, planets that are not engulfed move further out from the star.

If an evolved star is in a binary or multiple system, then the mass it loses can transfer to another star, forming new protoplanetary disks and second- and third-generation planets which may differ in composition from the original planets, which may also be affected by the mass transfer.

System architectures

The Solar System consists of an inner region of small

gas giants. However, other planetary systems can have quite different architectures. Studies suggest that architectures of planetary systems are dependent on the conditions of their initial formation.[14] Many systems with a hot Jupiter gas giant very close to the star have been found. Theories, such as planetary migration or scattering, have been proposed for the formation of large planets close to their parent stars.[15]
At present,[when?] few systems have been found to be analogous to the Solar System with terrestrial planets close to the parent star. More commonly, systems consisting of multiple Super-Earths have been detected.[16]

Classification

Planetary system architectures may be partitioned into four classes based on how the mass of the planets is distributed around the host star:[17][18]

  • Similar: The masses of all planets in a system are similar to each other. This architecture class is the most commonly-observed in our galaxy. Examples include Trappist-1. The planets in these systems are said to be like 'peas in a pod'.[19]
  • Mixed: The masses of planets in a system show large increasing or decreasing variations. Example of such systems are: GJ-876 or the Kepler-89 system.
  • Anti-Ordered: The massive planets of a system are close to the star and smaller planets are further away from the star. There are currently no known examples of this architecture class.
  • Ordered: The mass of the planets in a system tends to increase with increasing distance from the host star. The Solar System, with small rocky planets in the inner part and giant planets in the outer part, is a type of Ordered system.

Components

Planets and stars

Main article:
Planet-hosting stars
The Morgan-Keenan spectral classification

Most known exoplanets orbit stars roughly similar to the

transit method
, which can detect smaller planets.

Circumstellar disks and dust structures

Main article:
Circumstellar disk
Debris disks detected in HST
archival images of young stars, HD 141943 and HD 191089, using improved imaging processes (April 24, 2014).

After planets, circumstellar disks are one of the most commonly-observed properties of planetary systems, particularly of young stars. The Solar System possesses at least four major circumstellar disks (the asteroid belt, Kuiper belt, scattered disc, and Oort cloud) and clearly-observable disks have been detected around nearby solar analogs including Epsilon Eridani and Tau Ceti. Based on observations of numerous similar disks, they are assumed to be quite common attributes of stars on the main sequence.

zodiacal dust, the 1–100 micrometre-sized grains of amorphous carbon and silicate dust that fill the plane of the Solar System[22] has been detected around the 51 Ophiuchi, Fomalhaut,[23][24] Tau Ceti,[24][25] and Vega
systems.

Comets

Main article: Comet

As of November 2014 there are 5,253 known Solar System comets

HR 10,[29] 51 Ophiuchi, HR 2174,[30] 49 Ceti, 5 Vulpeculae, 2 Andromedae, HD 21620, HD 42111, HD 110411,[31][33] and more recently HD 172555[32]) are around very young A-type stars
.

Other components

Further information: Circumplanetary disk

Computer modelling of an impact in 2013 detected around the star NGC 2547-ID8 by the Spitzer Space Telescope, and confirmed by ground observations, suggests the involvement of large asteroids or protoplanets similar to the events believed to have led to the formation of terrestrial planets like the Earth.[34]

Based on observations of the Solar System's large collection of natural satellites, they are believed common components of planetary systems; however, the existence of

1SWASP J140747.93-394542.6, in the constellation Centaurus, is a strong candidate for a natural satellite.[35] Indications suggest that the confirmed extrasolar planet WASP-12b also has at least one satellite.[36]

Orbital configurations

Unlike the Solar System, which has orbits that are nearly circular, many of the known planetary systems display much higher orbital eccentricity.[37] An example of such a system is 16 Cygni.

Mutual inclination

The mutual

inclination between two planets is the angle between their orbital planes. Many compact systems with multiple close-in planets interior to the equivalent orbit of Venus are expected to have very low mutual inclinations, so the system (at least the close-in part) would be even flatter than the Solar System. Captured planets could be captured into any arbitrary angle to the rest of the system. As of 2016 there are only a few systems where mutual inclinations have actually been measured[38] One example is the Upsilon Andromedae system: the planets c and d have a mutual inclination of about 30 degrees.[39][40]

Orbital dynamics

Planetary systems can be categorized according to their orbital dynamics as resonant, non-resonant-interacting, hierarchical, or some combination of these. In resonant systems the orbital periods of the planets are in integer ratios. The Kepler-223 system contains four planets in an 8:6:4:3 orbital resonance.[41] Giant planets are found in mean-motion resonances more often than smaller planets.[42] In interacting systems the planets orbits are close enough together that they perturb the orbital parameters. The Solar System could be described as weakly interacting. In strongly interacting systems

Kepler's laws do not hold.[43]
In hierarchical systems the planets are arranged so that the system can be gravitationally considered as a nested system of two-bodies, e.g. in a star with a close-in hot jupiter with another gas giant much further out, the star and hot jupiter form a pair that appears as a single object to another planet that is far enough out.

Other, as yet unobserved, orbital possibilities include: double planets; various co-orbital planets such as quasi-satellites, trojans and exchange orbits; and interlocking orbits maintained by precessing orbital planes.[44]

Number of planets, relative parameters and spacings

The spacings between orbits vary widely amongst the different systems discovered by the Kepler spacecraft.

Planet capture

Free-floating planets in open clusters have similar velocities to the stars and so can be recaptured. They are typically captured into wide orbits between 100 and 105 AU. The capture efficiency decreases with increasing cluster size, and for a given cluster size it increases with the host/primary[clarification needed] mass. It is almost independent of the planetary mass. Single and multiple planets could be captured into arbitrary unaligned orbits, non-coplanar with each other or with the stellar host spin, or pre-existing planetary system. Some planet–host metallicity correlation may still exist due to the common origin of the stars from the same cluster. Planets would be unlikely to be captured around neutron stars because these are likely to be ejected from the cluster by a pulsar kick when they form. Planets could even be captured around other planets to form free-floating planet binaries. After the cluster has dispersed some of the captured planets with orbits larger than 106 AU would be slowly disrupted by the galactic tide and likely become free-floating again through encounters with other field stars or giant molecular clouds.[45]

Zones

Habitable zone

Main article:
Circumstellar habitable zone
Location of habitable zone around different types of stars

The habitable zone around a star is the region where the temperature range allows for liquid water to exist on a planet; that is, not too close to the star for the water to evaporate and not too far away from the star for the water to freeze. The heat produced by stars varies depending on the size and age of the star; this means the habitable zone will also vary accordingly. Also, the atmospheric conditions on the planet influence the planet's ability to retain heat so that the location of the habitable zone is also specific to each type of planet.

Habitable zones have usually been defined in terms of surface temperature; however, over half of Earth's biomass is from subsurface microbes,[46] and temperature increases as depth underground increases, so the subsurface can be conducive for life when the surface is frozen; if this is considered, the habitable zone extends much further from the star.[47]

Studies in 2013 indicated an estimated frequency of 22±8% of Sun-like[a] stars having an Earth-sized[b] planet in the habitable[c] zone.[48][49]

Venus zone

The Venus zone is the region around a star where a

runaway greenhouse conditions like Venus, but not so near the star that the atmosphere completely evaporates. As with the habitable zone, the location of the Venus zone depends on several factors, including the type of star and properties of the planets such as mass, rotation rate, and atmospheric clouds. Studies of the Kepler spacecraft data indicate that 32% of red dwarfs have potentially Venus-like planets based on planet size and distance from star, increasing to 45% for K-type and G-type stars.[d] Several candidates have been identified, but spectroscopic follow-up studies of their atmospheres are required to determine whether they are like Venus.[50][51]

Galactic distribution of planets

See also: Galactic habitable zone, Extragalactic planet, and Globular cluster § Planets
light years
of Earth, as of July 2014.

The

galactic disk.[52] So far, the indications are that planets are more common in the disk than the bulge.[53] Estimates of the distance of microlensing events is difficult: the first planet considered with high probability of being in the bulge is MOA-2011-BLG-293Lb at a distance of 7.7 kiloparsecs (about 25,000 light years).[54]

Population I, or metal-rich stars, are those young stars whose

elliptical orbits around the Galactic Center, with a low relative velocity.[55]

Population II, or metal-poor stars, are those with relatively low metallicity which can have hundreds (e.g.

Globular clusters also contain high numbers of population II stars.[56]
In 2014, the first planets around a halo star were announced around
Kapteyn b is just an artefact of stellar activity and that Kapteyn c needs more study to be confirmed.[57] The metallicity of Kapteyn's star is estimated to be about 8[e] times less than the Sun.[58]

Different types of galaxies have different histories of star formation and hence planet formation. Planet formation is affected by the ages, metallicities, and orbits of stellar populations within a galaxy. Distribution of stellar populations within a galaxy varies between the different types of galaxies.[59] Stars in elliptical galaxies are much older than stars in spiral galaxies. Most elliptical galaxies contain mainly low-mass stars, with minimal star-formation activity.[60] The distribution of the different types of galaxies in the universe depends on their location within galaxy clusters, with elliptical galaxies found mostly close to their centers.[61]

See also

Notes

  1. K-type stars
  2. ^ For the purpose of this 1 in 5 statistic, Earth-sized means 1–2 Earth radii
  3. ^ For the purpose of this 1 in 5 statistic, "habitable zone" means the region with 0.25 to 4 times Earth's stellar flux (corresponding to 0.5–2 AU for the Sun).
  4. ^ For the purpose of this, terrestrial-sized means 0.5–1.4 Earth radii, the "Venus zone" means the region with approximately 1 to 25 times Earth's stellar flux for M and K-type stars and approximately 1.1 to 25 times Earth's stellar flux for G-type stars.
  5. Kapteyn's star
    estimated at [Fe/H]= −0.89. 10−0.89 ≈ 1/8

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Further reading

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