Constraining planet location through gravitational modeling

Oldroyd, William Jared (2022) Constraining planet location through gravitational modeling. Doctoral thesis, Northern Arizona University.

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Abstract

Throughout history, tracking the location of planets has been at the forefront of astronomy. Modern computational resources allow for extreme precision in tracking planets and other objects through their orbits with the use of gravitational modeling. The classical planets in the solar system have well-known orbits, but there are several types of planets that require further orbital analysis in order to develop a solid understanding of these worlds and their impact on the solar system and beyond. In this dissertation we discuss our efforts to gravitationally model three separate systems. The first of these is the relationship between a hypothetical distant giant planet in the outer reaches of our solar system and the distant objects that provide evidence for its existence. This population of distant dwarf planets has orbits that are clustered together in a way that is suggestive of another large planet, which we refer to in this work as Planet X, orbiting beyond Neptune. Here we explore another orbital feature related to these objects, a gap between two sub-populations of distant dwarf planets that cannot form under the gravitational influence of the known planets alone. By including Planet X in the solar system, we show that both the gap and this population of distant objects are formed naturally over the age of the solar system. The second group of systems analyzed in this work centers on exoplanets, planets orbiting other stars. One major challenge for direct imaging studies of exoplanets is the large amount of telescope observation time that must be allocated to orbit determination. We have developed a method for reducing the telescope observing time required to determine the orbits of these exoplanets by reducing the number of revisit observations required to constrain directly imaged exoplanet orbits. This will allow for a sizeable fraction of observing time to be repurposed for further study of the surfaces and atmospheres of these worlds. Our final study is focused on a minor planet in the solar system, 282P. This object shows signs of comet-like activity and it clearly has close encounters with Jupiter both in the last few hundred years, and in the next few hundred as well. These close approaches cause the orbit of 282P to be chaotic beyond the time of these encounters, so we employ statistical techniques to determine likely outcomes and histories of 282P. We find that 282P is in the Quasi-Hilda region, which likely serves as an intermediate zone between comets and active asteroids. These related projects all focus on constraining the orbital parameters of the planet in question in order to better understand the system as a whole. By improving our understanding of the gravitational influence exerted by and on these bodies, we can develop a more complete picture of the formation, composition, and evolution of the solar system and other planetary systems as well.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Publisher’s Statement:	© Copyright is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the Cline Library, Northern Arizona University. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.
Keywords:	Direct Imaging; Exoplanets; Gravitational Modeling; Orbital Dynamics; Planet X; Quasi-Hilda; Planetary orbits;
Subjects:	Q Science > QB Astronomy
NAU Depositing Author Academic Status:	Student
Department/Unit:	Graduate College > Theses and Dissertations College of the Environment, Forestry, and Natural Sciences > Physics and Astronomy
Date Deposited:	06 Jun 2023 17:26
Last Modified:	18 Aug 2023 08:30
URI:	https://openknowledge.nau.edu/id/eprint/5969

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