From: LARRY KLAES (ljk4_at_msn.com)
Date: Fri Sep 23 2005 - 13:55:27 UTC
Paper: astro-ph/0509659
Date: Thu, 22 Sep 2005 07:35:30 GMT (202kb)
Title: Dynamical Stability and Habitability of Gamma Cephei Binary-Planetary
System
Authors: Nader Haghighipour (IFA/Univ. Hawaii)
Categories: astro-ph
Comments: 25 pages, 7 figures, 3 tables, submitted for publication
\\
It has been suggested that the long-lived residual radial velocity
variations
observed in the precision radial velocity measurements of the primary of
Gamma
Cephei (HR8974, HD222404, HIP116727) are likely due to a Jupiter-like planet
around this star (Hatzes et al, 2003). In this paper, the orbital dynamics
of
this plant is studied and also the possibility of the existence of a
hypothetical Earth-like planet in the habitable zone of its central star is
discussed. Simulations, which have been carried out for different values of
the
eccentricity and semimajor axis of the binary, as well as the orbital
inclination of its Jupiter-like planet, expand on previous studies of this
system and indicate that, for the values of the binary eccentricity smaller
than 0.5, and for all values of the orbital inclination of the Jupiter-like
planet ranging from 0 to 40 degrees, the orbit of this planet is stable. For
larger values of the binary eccentricity, the system becomes gradually
unstable. Integrations also indicate that, within this range of orbital
parameters, a hypothetical Earth-like planet can have a long-term stable
orbit
only at distances of 0.3 to 0.8 AU from the primary star. The habitable zone
of
the primary, at a range of approximately 3.1 to 3.8 AU, is, however,
unstable.
\\ ( http://arXiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0509659 , 202kb)
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.6 : Fri Sep 23 2005 - 13:59:40 UTC