The Exoplanet Multiplicity Distribution

The Solar System is an eight-planet system - but is that typical of other stars too? How often do other stars have 8 planets? Or is some other number more common? Put another way, what is the multiplicity distribution of exoplanets? This is a devilishly difficult problem to unlock because our telescopes provide incomplete views of distant stars, what about the missing planets? In new research here from the Cool Worlds Lab, we show how progress can be made by hypothesizing a family of various distributions, simulating the resulting planets and expected planet detections, and then comparing to reality. Although current techniques only reveal planets on periods less than 400 days, this still gives us a chance to quantify the multiplicity of the inner part of exoplanetary systems! Join us today as Emily Sandford walks us through her new paper and explains what it all means.

This video is based on research conducted at the Cool Worlds Lab at Columbia University, New York. You can now support our research program directly here

References cited:

► Sandford & Kipping (2019)"The multiplicity distribution of Kepler's exoplanets", MNRAS, submitted

► Ballard & Johnson (2016)“The Kepler Dichotomy among the M DwarfsHalf of Systems Contain Five or More Coplanar Planets”, The Astrophyical Journal, 816, 66

Video materials and graphics used:

► TRAPPIST1 orbit animation by ESO/L. Calçada/spaceengine.org

► "Multiplicity" (1996), Columbia Pictures

Keck in Motion by Andrew Cooper

Music used:

► Outro music "Sad Game Boy" by Mikey Geiger, licensed through SoundStripe.com

And also...

► Columbia University Department of Astronomy

► Cool Worlds Lab website

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#Exoplanets #Multiplicity #CoolWorlds