Distance pattern and spacing of the multiplanet systems in TESS data

Abstract

Titius-Bode’s Law is a well-known formulation that describes the distances of the planets in the Solar System. It had a significant role in the discovery of dwarf planet Ceres. Since then, there are studies that attempted to apply it in other planetary systems using the original or modified form of the Law. This is done to examine their distances and possibly find another planet. However, those studies were few and the growing number of discovered planets and planetary systems continues due to the different missions. In this paper, we focused on the planetary systems mainly discovered by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and we tried to use exponential regression to determine the equations that will express the best fit for the distance pattern of the planets. We only included planetary systems with at least 2 planets. In addition, we explored the trends in the distances or spacing of the planets using ANOVA. Overall, we were able to get the necessary equations and there is a high value of R2 that indicates a good fit. The distances and spacing of the planets in each planetary system, there is no significant difference which indicates that planets have close spacings.