Dynamics, Origin, and Activation of Main Belt Comets (2009)
The discovery of Main Belt Comets (MBCs) has raised many questions regarding the origin and activation mechanism of these objects. Results of a study of the dynamics of these bodies suggest that MBCs...
Planetary Dynamics and Habitable Planet Formation In Binary Star Systems (2009)
Haghighipour, Nader, Dvorak, Rudolf, Pilat-Lohinger, Elke
Whether binaries can harbor potentially habitable planets depends on several factors including the physical properties and the orbital characteristics of the binary system. While the former...
Dynamical Constraints on the Origin of Main Belt Comets (2009)
In an effort to understand the origin of the Main Belt Comets (MBCs) 7968 Elst-Pizzaro, 118401, and P/2005 U1, the dynamics of these three icy asteroids and a large number of hypothetical MBCs were...
Given the tendency of planets to form in multiples, and the observational evidence in support of the existence of potential planet-hosting stars in binaries or clusters, it is expected that...
Formation, Dynamical Evolution, and Habitability of Planets in Binary Star Systems (2009)
A survey of currently known planet-hosting stars indicates that approximately 25% of extrasolar planetary systems are within dual-star environments. Several of these systems contain stellar...
Main-Belt Comet P/2008 R1 (Garradd) (2009)
Jewitt, David, Yang, Bin, Haghighipour, Nader
We present a study of the newly-discovered main-belt comet P/2008 R1 (Garradd), an object with the dynamical characteristics of an asteroid and the physical characteristics of a comet. Photometry...
A Spectroscopically Unique Main Belt Asteroid: 10537 (1991 RY16) (2008)
Moskovitz, Nicholas A., Lawrence, Samuel, Jedicke, Robert, Willman, Mark, Haghighipour, Nader, Bus, Schelte J., ...
We present visible and near-infrared reflectance spectra and interpreted surface mineralogy for asteroid 10537 (1991 RY16). The spectrum of this object is without precedent amongst the Main Belt...
Understanding the formation and dynamical evolution of habitable planets in extrasolar planetary systems is a challenging task. In this respect, systems with multiple giant planets and/or multiple...
With more than 260 extrasolar planetary systems discovered to-date, the search for habitable planets has found new grounds. Unlike our solar system, the stars of many of these planets are hosts to...
New Worlds on the Horizon: Earth-Sized Planets Close to Other Stars (2007)
Gaidos, Eric, Haghighipour, Nader, Agol, Eric, Latham, David, Raymond, Sean, Rayner, John
The search for habitable planets like Earth around other stars fulfils an ancient imperative to understand our origins and place in the cosmos. The past decade has seen the discovery of hundreds of...
Habitability of Planets in Binaries (2007)
A survey of currently known extrasolar planets indicates that close to 20% of their hosting stars are members of binary systems. While the majority of these binaries are wide (i.e., with separations...
Irregular Satellites of the Planets: Products of Capture in the Early Solar System (2007)
Jewitt, David, Haghighipour, Nader
All four giant planets in the Solar system possess irregular satellites, characterized by large, highly eccentric and/or inclined orbits that are distinct from the nearly circular, uninclined orbits...
Habitable Planet Formation in Binary-Planetary Systems (2007)
Haghighipour, Nader, Raymond, Sean N.
Recent radial velocity observations have indicated that Jovian-type planets can exist in moderately close binary star systems. Numerical simulations of the dynamical stability of terrestrial-class...
The astrobiology primer: An outline of general knowledge - Version 1, 2006 (2006)
Mix, Lucas J, Armstrong, John C, Mandell, Avi M, Mosier, Annika C, Raymond, Jason, Raymond, Sean N, ...
Dynamical Stability and Habitability of Gamma Cephei Binary-Planetary System (2005)
It has been suggested that the long-lived residual radial velocity variations observed in the precision radial velocity measurements of the primary of Gamma Cephei (HR8974, HD222404, HIP116727) are...
On the Growth of Dust Particles in a Non-Uniform Solar Nebula (2004)
A summary of the results of a numerical study of the growth of solid particles in the vicinity of an azimuthally symmetric density enhancement of a protostellar disk are presented. The effects of gas...
On the Stability of Test Particles in Extrasolar Multiple Planet Systems (2004)
Rivera, Eugenio J., Haghighipour, Nader
We present results of extensive numerical studies of the stability of non-interacting particles in the planetary systems of stars Upsilon Andromedae, GJ 876, 47 UMa, and 55 Cancri. We discuss the...
On the Asymptotic Character of Electromagnetic Waves in a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker Universe (2004)
Asymptotic properties of electromagnetic waves are studied within the context of Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) cosmology. Electromagnetic fields are considered as small perturbations on the...
On the Dynamical Stability of Gamma Cephei, an S-Type Binary Planetary System (2004)
Precision radial velocity measurements of the Gamma Cephei (HR8974) binary system suggest the existence of a planetary companion with a minimum mass of 1.7 Jupiter-mass on an elliptical orbit with a...
On the Stability of a Planetary System Embedded in the Beta Pictoris Debris Disk (2004)
Crossley, Jared H., Haghighipour, Nader
It has recently been stated that the warp structure observed around the star Beta Pictoris may be due to four planets embedded in its debris disk (Wahhaj et al., 2003). It, therefore, becomes...
The results of a numerical study of the growth of solid particles, ranging from 1 micron to 1 millimeter in size, in the vicinity of an azimuthally symmetric density enhancement of a protostellar...
On Gas-Drag Induced Rapid Migration of Solids in a Non-Uniform Solar Nebula (2003)
Haghighipour, Nader, Boss, Alan P.
We study the motions of small solids, ranging from micron-sized dust grains to meter-sized objects, in the vicinity of local pressure enhancements of a gaseous nebula. Integrating numerically, we...
Stable 1:2 Resonant Periodic Orbits in Elliptic Three-Body Systems (2003)
Haghighipour, Nader, Couetdic, Jocelyn, Varadi, Ferenc, Moore, William B.
The results of an extensive numerical study of the periodic orbits of planar, elliptic restricted three-body planetary systems consisting of a star, an inner massive planet and an outer mass-less...
On the Stability of Particles in Extrasolar Planetary Systems (2002)
Rivera, Eugenio J., Haghighipour, Nader
In this paper, we present preliminary results on the stability of massless particles in two and three-planet systems. The results of our study may be used to address questions concerning the...
The results of an extensive numerical study of the orbital dynamics of small bodies ranging from micron-sized dust grains to 1 km objects subject to gas drag and also the gravitational attraction of...
On Pressure Gradients and Rapid Migration of Solids in an Inhomogeneous Solar Nebula (2002)
Haghighipour, Nader, Boss, Alan P.
We study the motions of small solids, ranging from micron-sized dust grains to 100-m objects, in the vicinity of a local density enhancement of an isothermal gaseous solar nebula. Being interested in...
Rapid Formation of Ice Giant Planets (2001)
Boss, Alan P., Wetherill, George W., Haghighipour, Nader
The existence of Uranus and Neptune presents severe difficulties for the core accretion model for the formation of ice giant planets. We suggest an alternative mechanism, namely disk instability...
Partial Averaging and Resonance Trapping in a Restricted Three-Body System (2001)
Based on the value of the orbital eccentricity of a particle and also its proximity to the exact resonant orbit in a three-body system, the Pendulum Approximation (Dermott & Murray 1983) or the...
Partial Averaging Near a Resonance in Planetary Dynamics (1999)
Following the general numerical analysis of Melita and Woolfson (1996), I showed in a recent paper that a restricted, planar, circular planetary system consisting of Sun, Jupiter and Saturn would be...
Dynamical Friction and Resonance Trapping in Planetary Systems (1998)
A restricted planar circular three-body system, consisting of the Sun and two planets, is studied as a simple model for a planetary system. The mass of the inner planet is considered to be larger and...