Peas in a Pod: Planets in a Kepler Multiplanet System are Similarly Sized and Regularly Spaced
Abstract
In the California Kepler Survey, we have established precise planet radii, semimajor axes, incident stellar fluxes, and stellar masses for 909 planets in 355 multi-planet systems discovered by Kepler. In this sample, we find that planets within a single multi-planet system have correlated sizes: each planet is more likely to be the size of its neighbor than a size drawn at random from the distribution of observed planet sizes. In systems with three or more planets, the planets tend to have a regular spacing: the orbital period ratios of adjacent pairs of planets are correlated. Furthermore, the orbital period ratios are smaller in systems with smaller planets, suggesting that the patterns in planet sizes and spacing are linked through formation and/or subsequent orbital dynamics.
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #233
- Pub Date:
- January 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019AAS...23332705W