Alignment of the stellar spin with the orbits of a three-planet system
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Winn_Alignment of.pdf
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Author(s)
Sanchis Ojeda, Roberto
Fabrycky, Daniel C.
Winn, Joshua Nathan
Barclay, Thomas
Clarke, Bruce D.
Ford, Eric B.
Fortney, Jonathan J.
Geary, John C.
Holman, Matthew J.
Howard, Andrew W.
Date Issued
July 2012
Journal
Nature
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
Citation
Sanchis-Ojeda, Roberto et al. “Alignment of the Stellar Spin with the Orbits of a Three-planet System.” Nature 487.7408 (2012): 449–453.
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
The Sun’s equator and the planets’ orbital planes are nearly aligned, which is presumably a consequence of their formation from a single spinning gaseous disk. For exoplanetary systems this well-aligned configuration is not guaranteed: dynamical interactions may tilt planetary orbits, or stars may be misaligned with the protoplanetary disk through chaotic accretion1 , magnetic interactions[superscript 2] or torques from neighbouring stars. Indeed, isolated ‘hot Jupiters’ are often misaligned and even orbiting retrograde[superscript 3, 4]. Here we report an analysis of transits of planets over starspots[superscript 5, 6, 7] on the Sun-like star Kepler-30 (ref. 8), and show that the orbits of its three planets are aligned with the stellar equator. Furthermore, the orbits are aligned with one another to within a few degrees. This configuration is similar to that of our Solar System, and contrasts with the isolated hot Jupiters. The orderly alignment seen in the Kepler-30 system suggests that high obliquities are confined to systems that experienced disruptive dynamical interactions. Should this be corroborated by observations of other coplanar multi-planet systems, then star–disk misalignments would be ruled out as the explanation for the high obliquities of hot Jupiters, and dynamical interactions would be implicated as the origin of hot Jupiters.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. School of Science
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11301
