Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union

Table of Contents - 2006 - Volume 2, Symposium S236 (Near Earth Objects, our Celestial Neighbors: Opportunity and Risk)  

Contributed Papers

On secular resonances of small bodies in the planetary systems

Jianghui Jia1a2 p1, L. Liua3 and G. Y. Lia1a2

a1 Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China email: jijh@pmo.ac.cn

a2 National Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100012, China email: xhliao@nju.edu.cn

a3 Department of Astronomy, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China

Abstract

We investigate the secular resonances for massless small bodies and Earth-like planets in several planetary systems. We further compare the results with those of Solar System. For example, in the GJ 876 planetary system, we show that the secular resonances ν1 and ν2 (respectively, resulting from the inner and outer giant planets) can excite the eccentricities of the Earth-like planets with orbits 0.21≤ a <0.50 AU and eject them out of the system in a short timescale. However, in a dynamical sense, the potential zones for the existence of Earth-like planets are in the area 0.50≤ a ≤1.00 AU, and there exist all stable orbits last up to 105 yr with low eccentricities. For other systems, e.g., 47 UMa, we also show that the Habitable Zones for Earth-like planets are related to both secular resonances and mean motion resonances in the systems.

Keywords

  • n-body simulations;
  • planetary systems;
  • habitable zone

Correspondence:

p1 Present address: Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institute of Washington, 5241 Broad Branch Road NW, Washington, DC 20015-1305