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Register a new userImpact Dynamics of Moons Within a Planetary Potential
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Current lunar origin scenarios suggest that Earths Moon may have resulted from the merger of two (or more) smaller moonlets. Dynamical studies of multiple moons find that these satellite systems are not stable, resulting in moonlet collision or loss of one or more of the moonlets. We perform Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamic (SPH) impact simulations of two orbiting moonlets inside the planetary gravitational potential and find that the classical outcome of two bodies impacting in free space is altered as erosive mass loss is more significant with decreasing distance to the planet. Depending on the conditions of accretion, each moonlet could have a distinct isotopic signature, therefore, we assess the initial mixing during their merger, in order to estimate whether future measurements of surface variations could distinguish between lunar origin scenarios (single vs. multiple moonlets). We find that for comparable-size impacting bodies in the accretionary regime, surface mixing is efficient, but in the hit-and-run regime, only a small amount of material is transferred between the bodies. However, sequences of hit-and-run impacts are expected, which will enhance the surface mixing. Overall, our results show that large scale heterogeneities can arise only from the merger of drastically different component masses. Surfaces of moons resulting from the merger of comparable-sized components have little material heterogeneities, and such impacts are preferred, as the relatively massive impactor generates more melt, extending the lunar magma ocean phase.
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Each of the giant planets within the Solar System has large moons but none of these moons have their own moons (which we call ${it submoons}$). By analogy with studies of moons around short-period exoplanets, we investigate the tidal-dynamical stability of submoons. We find that 10 km-scale submoons can only survive around large (1000 km-scale) moons on wide-separation orbits. Tidal dissipation destabilizes the orbits of submoons around moons that are small or too close to their host planet; this is the case for most of the Solar Systems moons. A handful of known moons are, however, capable of hosting long-lived submoons: Saturns moons Titan and Iapetus, Jupiters moon Callisto, and Earths Moon. Based on its inferred mass and orbital separation, the newly-discovered exomoon candidate Kepler-1625b-I can in principle host a large submoon, although its stability depends on a number of unknown parameters. We discuss the possible habitability of submoons and the potential for subsubmoons. The existence, or lack thereof, of submoons, may yield important constraints on satellite formation and evolution in planetary systems.
The Moons changeable aspect during a lunar eclipse is largely attributable to variations in the refracted unscattered sunlight absorbed by the terrestrial atmosphere that occur as the satellite crosses the Earths shadow. The contribution to the Moons aspect from sunlight scattered at the Earths terminator is generally deemed minor. However, our analysis of a published spectrum of the 16 August 2008 lunar eclipse shows that diffuse sunlight is a major component of the measured spectrum at wavelengths shorter than 600 nm. The conclusion is supported by two distinct features, namely the spectrums tail at short wavelengths and the unequal absorption by an oxygen collisional complex at two nearby bands. Our findings are consistent with the presence of the volcanic cloud reported at high northern latitudes following the 7-8 August 2008 eruption in Alaska of the Kasatochi volcano. The cloud both attenuates the unscattered sunlight and enhances moderately the scattered component, thus modifying the contrast between the two contributions.
Young circumstellar disks are of prime interest to understand the physical and chemical conditions under which planet formation takes place. Only very few detections of planet candidates within these disks exist, and most of them are currently suspected to be disk features. In this context, the transition disk around the young star PDS 70 is of particular interest, due to its large gap identified in previous observations, indicative of ongoing planet formation. We aim to search for the presence of planets and search for disk structures indicative for disk-planet interactions and other evolutionary processes. We analyse new and archival near-infrared (NIR) images of the transition disk PDS 70 obtained with the VLT/SPHERE, VLT/NaCo and Gemini/NICI instruments in polarimetric differential imaging (PDI) and angular differential imaging (ADI) modes. We detect a point source within the gap of the disk at about 195 mas (about 22 au) projected separation. The detection is confirmed at five different epochs, in three filter bands and using different instruments. The astrometry results in an object of bound nature, with high significance. The comparison of the measured magnitudes and colours to evolutionary tracks suggests that the detection is a companion of planetary mass. We confirm the detection of a large gap of about 54 au in size within the disk in our scattered light images, and detect a signal from an inner disk component. We find that its spatial extent is very likely smaller than about 17 au in radius. The images of the outer disk show evidence of a complex azimuthal brightness distribution which may in part be explained by Rayleigh scattering from very small grains. Future observations of this system at different wavelengths and continuing astrometry will allow us to test theoretical predictions regarding planet-disk interactions, planetary atmospheres and evolutionary models.
Chondrules are one of the most primitive elements that can serve as a fundamental clue as to the origin of our Solar system. We investigate a formation scenario of chondrules that involves planetesimal collisions and the resultant impact jetting. Planetesimal collisions are the main agent to regulate planetary accretion that corresponds to the formation of terrestrial planets and cores of gas giants. The key component of this scenario is that ejected materials can melt when the impact velocity between colliding planetesimals exceeds about 2.5 km s$^{-1}$. The previous simulations show that the process is efficient enough to reproduce the primordial abundance of chondrules. We examine this scenario carefully by performing semi-analytical calculations that are developed based on the results of direct $N$-body simulations. As found by the previous work, we confirm that planetesimal collisions that occur during planetary accretion can play an important role in forming chondrules. This arises because protoplanet-planetesimal collisions can achieve the impact velocity of about 2.5 km s$^{-1}$ or higher, as protoplanets approach the isolation mass ($M_{p,iso}$). Assuming that the ejected mass is a fraction ($F_{ch}$) of colliding planetesimals mass, we show that the resultant abundance of chondrules is formulated well by $F_{ch}M_{p,iso}$, as long as the formation of protoplanets is completed within a given disk lifetime. We perform a parameter study and examine how the abundance of chondrules and their formation timing change. We find that the impact jetting scenario generally works reasonably well for a certain range of parameters, while more dedicated work would be needed to include other physical processes that are neglected in this work and to examine their effects on chondrule formation.
The exquisite photometric precision of the Kepler space telescope now puts the detection of extrasolar moons at the horizon. Here, we firstly review observational and analytical techniques that have recently been proposed to find exomoons. Secondly, we discuss the prospects of characterizing potentially habitable extrasolar satellites. With moons being much more numerous than planets in the solar system and with most exoplanets found in the stellar habitable zone being gas giants, habitable moons could be as abundant as habitable planets. However, satellites orbiting planets in the habitable zones of cool stars will encounter strong tidal heating and likely appear as hot moons.
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