Dr. Geoffrey Marcy
UC Berkley
Extrasolar
Planetary Systems
About 7% of nearby stars harbor jupiter and saturn-sized planets
with
orbits smaller than that of Mars. The planet mass distribution
rises
rapidly toward smaller masses, with masses less than Saturn difficult
to detect and Earth-sized planets remaining undetectable.
Multiple
planets are common, and many reside in dynamical resonances which,
together with high orbital eccentricities, suggest that gravitational
interactions between planet-planet and planet-disk shape the final
architectures of planetary systems. The occurrence of planets
correlates with the abundance of heavy elements in the host star.
Monday, May 17, 2004
4:10 pm, 55 Roessler
Refreshments served at 3:50 in Phy/Geo entrance