AAS221

Might as well have a thread for it.

Steinn Sigurðsson at Dynamics of Cats hopes to "semi-liveblog" it as previously...

Great idea. If there's anything super-exciting presented, maybe we'll make it a stand-alone thread.

Kepler results.
461 new planet candidates. 2740 total candidates. Speaker notes there's four interesting planets, less than 2 Earth-radii in the HZ. One orbits a sun-like star. The rest are around cooler stars.

351 Earths +43% from last year.
816 super-Earths +21% from last year.
1290 Neptune +15% from last year.
202 intermediate -4% from last year.
81 Jupiters +14% from last year.

multis. 2012/2013
1:1428/1569
2:246/299
3:84/112
4:30/44
5:8/11
6:1/1

AAS Press conference live now talk about Kepler mission exoplanets

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/aas-press

Next presentation. More Kepler results.

At least one in six stars has an Earth-size planet with periods < 85 days. 17% have Earth-sized planets within orbit of Mercury. Too early to make statement about prevalence of Earth-sized planets in HZ.

If we estimate out to 400 days and larger planets, 70% of stars have a planet of any size. Could be 90% including much longer period planets that Kepler is not sensitive to.

Previously thought that small planets are more common around small stars. Turns out the frequency of small planets around larger stars was underestimated. Small planets are common around all stars.

Next presentation. Imaging the HIP 79977 debris disk.

Unconfirmed point-like source within the disk which may be a planet or clump of material at 62 AU. If it's a planet, mass is 3 - 5 Jupiter-masses. Follow-up with more observations soon.

HIP 79977 was on today's arXiv batch:

Imaging Discovery of the Debris Disk Around HIP 79977
http://arxiv.org/abs/1301.0625

Next presentation. How binary systems affect planets.

Wide binaries (> 1000 AU) have been ignored. Influenced by galactic tides, passing stars. This causes binary orbit to change shape over time, increasing eccentricity, etc. Could end up with high eccentricity and affecting planets around either star.
Simulating the outer solar system as a member of a binary system, in half of random cases, outer planets (Neptune, Uranus) are ejected.

Indeed, planets around wide binaries are on average more eccentric. Unlikely to be statistical fluke.

If you assume planetary systems are extended, such as out to 10 AU, it's easier to disrupt planetary systems and produce observations (compact systems harder to disrupt). Thus most planetary systems are expected to be extended beyond current detectability, as evidenced by observed eccentricity distribution of planets in binary stars.

Next presentation. Planets are everywhere.

Looking at M dwarfs, at least one planet per star, for a hundred billion planets in the Galaxy. Emphasis on Kepler-32. Five planets transit in the system. System formed within 10 Myr and must have migrated.

Probably. I think they counted Kepler-11 as the six-planet system in both the 2012 and 2013 candidate count. If so, then they're including confirmed planets.

I'm waiting to find out what the embargoed microlensing talk is going to be...

KOI-172.02 candidate announced.
Orbit Sol-like star, 242 days, 1,5 Earth radius. Named best candidate yet for habitable planet discovered by Kepler.

And KOI 435 is not 6 transiting planet system?