Stability of the Upsilon Andromedae Planetary System
Jack J. Lissauer, Eugenio Rivera |
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This project studies the dynamical properties of planetary systems that are consistent with the observational data on the three-planet system orbiting the nearby main sequence star Upsilon Andromedae. Some configurations consistent with the data originally announced by the discovery team are found to be stable for at least one billion years, whereas in other configurations planets can be ejected into interstellar space in less than 100,000 years. The typical path to instability involves the outer planet exciting the eccentricity of the orbit of the middle planet to such high values that it ventures close to the inner planet. In some stable systems a secular resonance between the outer two planets prevents close approaches between them by aligning their longitudes of periastron (that is, the orientations of their elliptical orbits). In relatively stable systems, test particles (which can be thought of as representing asteroids or Earth-like planets that are too small to have been detected to date) can survive for long periods of time between the inner and middle planets, as well as exterior to the outer planet. No stable orbits between the middle and outer planets were found.
Point of Contact: J. Lissauer
(650) 604-2293
lissauer@ringside.arc.nasa.gov
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