The fate of moons of close-in giant exoplanets

Details The fate of moons of close-in giant exoplanets The fate of moons of close-in giant exoplanets

2010-07-15

arxiv.org/abs/1007.2537v1

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics

4 pages, 2 figures, Astrophysical Journal Letters, in press

Scientific paper

We show that the fate of moons of a close-in giant planet is mainly determined by the migration history of the planet in the protoplanetary disk. As the planet migrates in the disk from beyond the snow line towards a multi-day period orbit, the formed and forming moons become unstable as the planet's sphere of influence shrinks. Disk-driven migration is faster than the moons' tidal orbital evolution. Moons are eventually ejected from around close-in exoplanets or forced into collision with them before tides from the star affect their orbits. If moons are detected around close-in exoplanets, they are unlikely to have been formed in situ, instead they were captured from the protoplanetary disk on retrograde orbits around the planets.

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