DYNAMICS AND ORIGINS OF PLANETS IN BINARY STAR SYSTEMS
Seminars
Semester 1
This year is the 30th anniversary of the discovery of the first extrasolar planet orbiting another Sun-like star. By now, more than 6000 extrasolar planets have been discovered in a wide variety of systems, some very different from our own. Among them are planets in binary star systems orbiting around one of the stars in a circumstellar orbit or around the binary in a circumbinary orbit. For two of the tightest binaries with circumstellar planets, HD 59686 and n Octantis, dynamical fitting of the radial velocity data and stability analysis show that the planets are most likely on retrograde orbits. In our own Solar System, there is also a remarkable system of four small satellites orbiting around the Pluto-Charon binary. In this talk, I will discuss the dynamics of these systems and the constraints that they place on the formation and evolution of planetary and satellite systems.
For additional information, please contact Prof Man Hoi LEE, mhlee@hku.hk