Innocent Bystanders: Orbital Dynamics of Exomoons During Planet–Planet Scattering

Hong, Yu-Cian; Raymond, Sean N.; Nicholson, P. D.; Lunine, Jonathan I.

doi:10.3847/1538-4357/aaa0db

Cited by 56 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 86 publications

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“…Comparing the moon survival rate in Figure 2 to the corresponding results (Hong et al (2018), Figure 5), we find a survival rate vs. distance relationship that is larger as a Figure 7. Resonance angles as a function of time for the two 2:1 (top and middle) and the Laplace (bottom) resonances for one of our Laplace resonance, three-moon systems.…”

Section: Comparison With Other Workmentioning

confidence: 70%

Survivability of moon systems around ejected gas giants

Rabago

Steffen

2018

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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We examine the effects that planetary encounters have on the moon systems of ejected gas giant planets. We conduct a suite of numerical simulations of planetary systems containing three Jupiter-mass planets (with the innermost planet at 3 AU) up to the point where a planet is ejected from the system. The ejected planet has an initial system of 100 test-particle moons. We determine the survival probability of moons at different distances from their host planet, measure the final distribution of orbital elements, examine the stability of resonant configurations, and characterize the properties of moons that are stripped from the planets. We find that moons are likely to survive in orbits with semi-major axes out beyond 200 planetary radii (0.1 AU in our case). The orbital inclinations and eccentricities of the surviving moons are broadly distributed and include nearly hyperbolic orbits and retrograde orbits. We find that a large fraction of moons in two-body and three-body mean-motion resonances also survive planetary ejection with the resonance intact. The moon-planet interactions, especially in the presence of mean-motion resonance, can keep the interior of the moons molten for billions of years via tidal flexing, as is seen in the moons of the gas giant planets in the solar system. Given the possibility that life may exist in the subsurface ocean of the Galilean satellite Europa, these results have implications for life on the moons of rogue planets-planets that drift through the galaxy with no host star.

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Section: Comparison With Other Workmentioning

confidence: 70%

Survivability of moon systems around ejected gas giants

Rabago

Steffen

2018

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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“…Several authors have proposed different mechanisms to explain the depletion of moons on relatively short time-scales around close-in planets. Some of them include: secular and resonant perturbations (Barnes & O'Brien 2002;Spalding et al 2016); planet scattering (Hong et al 2018); and tidal detachment (Sucerquia et al 2019;Martinez et al 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can close-in giant exoplanets preserve detectable moons?

Sucerquia

Ramírez

Alvarado-Montes

et al. 2019

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Exoplanet discoveries have motivated numerous efforts to find unseen populations of exomoons, yet they have been unsuccessful. A plausible explanation is that most discovered planets are located on close-in orbits, which would make their moons prone to tidal evolution and orbital detachment. In recent models of tidally-driven migration of exomoons, evolving planets might prevent what was considered their most plausible fate (i.e. colliding against their host planet), favouring scenarios where moons are pushed away and reach what we define as the satellite tidal orbital parking distance (a stop ), which is often within the critical limit for unstable orbits and depends mainly on the system's initial conditions: mass-ratio, semi-major axes, and rotational rates. By using semi-analytical calculations and numerical simulations, we calculate a stop for different initial system parameters and constrain the transit detectability of exomoons around close-in planets. We found that systems with M m /M p ≥ 10 −4 , which are less likely to form, are also stable and detectable with present facilities (e.g. Kepler and TESS ) through their direct and secondary effects in planet+moon transit, as they are massive, oversized, and migrate slowly. In contrast, systems with lower moon-to-planet mass ratios are ephemeral and hardly detectable. Moreover, any detection, confirmation, and full characterisation would require both the short cadence capabilities of TESS and high photometric sensitivity of ground-based observatories. Finally, despite the shortage of discovered long-period planets in currently available databases, the tidal migration model adopted in this work supports the idea that they are more likely to host the first detectable exomoon.

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“…Plausible candidate objects to carry life across interstellar distances are Earth or Super-Earth class terrestrial nomadic exoplanets or Jovian-like exomoons associated with large Jupiter-size nomadic exoplanets (see Sasselov and Valencia 2010;Lammer et al 2009;Heller and Armstrong 2014;Hong et al 2018). The gravitational influence of the Jupiter-mass exoplanet may render such exomoons habitable during the interstellar journey (see Heller and Armstrong 2014).…”

Section: Hypothesismentioning

confidence: 99%

On A Hypothetical Mechanism of Interstellar Life Transfer Trough Nomadic Objects

Sadlok

2020

Orig Life Evol Biosph

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Lethal radiation, low vacuum pressure and low temperaturesthis is how space welcomes organisms. Crossing of immense interstellar distances inflates the exposure time of biological material to harmful space conditions. This paper discusses the intriguing possibility of a life-bearing exoplanet being ejected from its planetary system and carrying life across interstellar distances (nomadic = free floating = rogue planet). The proposed interstellar panspermia mechanism reduces the exposure time to space conditions and provides multiple chances for interactions between microbes-bearing rock debris and exoplanets within system the nomadic object encountered on its way. The testing strategy is outlined and discussed in the paper, including testable predictions the proposed hypothesis makes.

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Innocent Bystanders: Orbital Dynamics of Exomoons During Planet–Planet Scattering

Cited by 56 publications

References 86 publications

Survivability of moon systems around ejected gas giants

Survivability of moon systems around ejected gas giants

Can close-in giant exoplanets preserve detectable moons?

On A Hypothetical Mechanism of Interstellar Life Transfer Trough Nomadic Objects

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