3:30–4:30 pm Zoom - for link, please contact, Laticia Rebeles, lrebeles@oddjob.uchicago.edu
"Quantifying the nature of the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system"
Seven Earth-sized planets have been found to transit the
Jupiter-sized star TRAPPIST-1, located forty light years from
our Solar System. The planets appear to form a chain of orbital
resonances, attributed to orbital migration. Dynamical interactions
amongst the planets lead to transit-timing variations which we
measured with high precision using the Spitzer, Kepler, Hubble,
and ground-based telescopes over four years. Analysis of these
data yield a comprehensive picture of the architecture of the orbits
and interiors of these planets. The planets' orbits are nearly circular
and coplanar, as expected from disk migration models. Their densities
show a pattern consistent with a single interior composition,
which is offset from the rocky planets in our Solar System.
I will present these and other results based on our transit-timing
and photodynamic analysis of this benchmark planetary system,
and discuss prospects for study of this system with the James
Webb Space Telescope.