Eccentricity Driven Climate Effects in the Kepler-1649 System

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Kane, Stephen R., Li, Zhexing, Wolf, Eric T., Ostberg, Colby, Hill, Michelle L.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866910303092998144
author Kane, Stephen R.
Li, Zhexing
Wolf, Eric T.
Ostberg, Colby
Hill, Michelle L.
author_facet Kane, Stephen R.
Li, Zhexing
Wolf, Eric T.
Ostberg, Colby
Hill, Michelle L.
contents The discovery of terrestrial exoplanets is uncovering increasingly diverse architectures. Of particular interest are those systems that contain exoplanets at a variety of star-planet separations, allowing direct comparison of exoplanet evolution (comparative planetology). The Kepler-1649 system contains two terrestrial planets similar both in size and insolation flux to Venus and Earth, although their eccentricities remain largely unconstrained. Here we present results of dynamical studies of the system and the potential effects on climate. The eccentricities of the Kepler-1649 system are poorly constrained, and we show that there are dynamically viable regions for further terrestrial planets in between the two known planets for a limited range of eccentricities. We investigate the effect of eccentricity of the outer planet on the dynamics of both planets and show that this results in high-frequency (1000-3000 year) eccentricity oscillations in long-term stable configurations. We calculate the resulting effect of these eccentricity variations on insolation flux and present the results of 3D climate simulations for the habitable zone planet. Our simulations demonstrate that, despite large eccentricity variations, the planet can maintain stable climates with relatively small temperature variations on the substellar hemisphere for a variety of initial climate configurations. Such systems thus provide key opportunities to explore alternative Venus/Earth climate evolution scenarios.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2011_09074
institution arXiv
publishDate 2020
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Eccentricity Driven Climate Effects in the Kepler-1649 System
Kane, Stephen R.
Li, Zhexing
Wolf, Eric T.
Ostberg, Colby
Hill, Michelle L.
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
The discovery of terrestrial exoplanets is uncovering increasingly diverse architectures. Of particular interest are those systems that contain exoplanets at a variety of star-planet separations, allowing direct comparison of exoplanet evolution (comparative planetology). The Kepler-1649 system contains two terrestrial planets similar both in size and insolation flux to Venus and Earth, although their eccentricities remain largely unconstrained. Here we present results of dynamical studies of the system and the potential effects on climate. The eccentricities of the Kepler-1649 system are poorly constrained, and we show that there are dynamically viable regions for further terrestrial planets in between the two known planets for a limited range of eccentricities. We investigate the effect of eccentricity of the outer planet on the dynamics of both planets and show that this results in high-frequency (1000-3000 year) eccentricity oscillations in long-term stable configurations. We calculate the resulting effect of these eccentricity variations on insolation flux and present the results of 3D climate simulations for the habitable zone planet. Our simulations demonstrate that, despite large eccentricity variations, the planet can maintain stable climates with relatively small temperature variations on the substellar hemisphere for a variety of initial climate configurations. Such systems thus provide key opportunities to explore alternative Venus/Earth climate evolution scenarios.
title Eccentricity Driven Climate Effects in the Kepler-1649 System
topic Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2011.09074