Tag

Orbital Dynamics

All articles tagged with #orbital dynamics

science22 days ago•5 min saved

Mars’s Hidden Gravity Tunes Earth’s Climate Across Millennia

A Nature Communications study finds Mars subtly nudging Earth’s orbit through gravitational resonance—altering orbital eccentricity every 26 months and, over millions of years, affecting how much solar energy Earth receives. Geological records from the deep ocean show a ~2.4-million-year cycle tied to stronger deep currents and abyssal eddies, linking planetary motion to long-term climate and ocean dynamics. While this is an ancient, slow driver and not responsible for today’s warming, it helps refine climate models and underlines ocean-system resilience (even if AMOC slows or changes).

via The Daily Galaxy|

#deep-ocean-circulation #earth-climate #mars

science1 month ago•6 min saved

TOI-201: A Chaotic Exoplanet System Rewrites Planet-Formation Rules

NASA’s TESS data reveal the TOI-201 planetary system, where three bodies have misaligned orbits and strong gravitational interactions that actively reshape their motion. One planet (TOI-201b) shows significant transit timing variations, and an outer ≈15 Jupiter-mass companion influences the system’s dynamics, indicating ongoing orbital reshaping rather than a settled, orderly configuration. The discovery, aided by Antarctica-based long-duration observations, provides a rare glimpse of early planetary evolution and challenges the idea that most systems form in calm, coplanar arrangements.

via The Daily Galaxy|

#exoplanets #orbital-dynamics #science

space1 month ago•74 min saved

TOI-201: A wildly different exoplanet system rewrites planetary rules

NASA’s TESS, with help from the Antarctic ASTEP observatory, found TOI-201 a star about 370 light-years away hosting three very different planets. The system includes a rocky super-Earth (~6 Earth masses) with a 5.8‑day year, plus two gas giants—TOI-201b (about half Jupiter mass, 53‑day orbit) and a much more massive companion (~16 Jupiter masses, ~2,883‑day or ~7.9‑year orbit). The outer planet’s highly inclined, eccentric orbit perturbs the inner planets, causing real-time changes in orbital orientation and transit timing. This results in transits that shift over time and, in about 200 years, may no longer line up to transit the star. The configuration is unlike the common “peas in a pod” pattern and provides new clues about how planetary systems reorganize after formation; the findings were published in Science on April 15.

via Space|

#exoplanets #orbital-dynamics #space

science2 months ago•7 min saved

Mars Shapes Earth's Ice-Age Rhythm, New Simulations Show

UC Riverside planetary astrophysicist Stephen Kane’s simulations show Mars exerts a measurable influence on Earth’s orbital variations and tilt, helping to drive Milankovitch cycles that govern ice-age timing. Removing Mars erases two long cycles (about 100,000 and 2.3 million years), while increasing Mars’ mass shortens them, suggesting outer planets can affect climates on Earth-like worlds.

via SciTechDaily|

#earth-climate #ice-ages #mars

science2 months ago•17 min saved

Mars’s gravity may pace Earth’s ice-age clock

New simulations show Mars helps set a 2.4-million-year rhythm in Earth’s orbit that paces Milankovitch cycles and influences ice-age timing. By running the solar system with and without Mars, researchers found the red planet’s gravity shapes orbital frequencies and Earth’s tilt; removing Mars erased a key cycle, tying these climate rhythms to planetary dynamics. While greenhouse gases and ocean circulation remain primary drivers of temperature swings, the study connects orbital science to rock records and suggests broader implications for understanding climates on other worlds.

via Earth.com|

#earth-climate #ice-ages #mars

science4 months ago•5 min saved

Mars Is Earth's Climate Stabilizer, New Study Finds

New simulations indicate Mars’ gravity subtly stabilizes Earth’s climate by damping changes in its axial tilt; without Mars, major climate cycles like ice ages could disappear, and increasing Mars’ mass would shorten these cycles—revealing a surprising, system-wide gravitational connection that could affect how we think about habitability in other planetary systems.

via The Daily Galaxy|

#axial-tilt #earth-climate #habitable-exoplanets

science10 months ago•5 min saved

Kepler Data Reveals Two Unusual Planets in KOI-134 System

Reanalysis of old Kepler data revealed that the KOI-134 system, previously thought to have no planets, actually hosts two planets with unusual orbital dynamics, including significant mutual inclination, resonance, and transit timing variations, making it a unique and first-of-its-kind system.

via Phys.org|

#exoplanets #kepler-data #mutual-inclination

space-and-cosmos2 years ago•2 min saved

"Advancements in Stellar Observations Blur Earth's Historical and Future Understanding"

Astronomers' improved ability to track the motions of stars beyond the solar system has made it more challenging to predict Earth's future and reconstruct its past. New simulations considering the effects of stars passing our solar system have reduced scientists' ability to look back or ahead by another 10 million years, emphasizing the significant impact of external celestial bodies on planetary orbits.

via The New York Times|

#astronomy #earths-history #orbital-dynamics

astronomy3 years ago•8 min saved

Uncovering the Secrets of an Immortal Star in the Cosmos

Physicists have developed a model that explains the unexpected orbit of a star around a supermassive black hole, providing new insights into one of the cosmos’ most extreme environments. The team's findings describe the capture of the star by a supermassive black hole, the stripping of the material each time the star comes close to the black hole, and the delay between when the material is stripped and when it feeds the black hole again. The team is studying a tidal disruption event (TDE) known as AT2018fyk, which is the first to develop and use a detailed model of a repeating partial TDE to explain the observations, make predictions about the orbital properties of a star in a distant galaxy, and understand the partial tidal disruption process.

via SciTechDaily|

#accretion-disk #astronomy #astrophysics