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In the solar system, the planets' compositions vary with orbital distance, with rocky planets in close orbits and lower-density gas giants in wider orbits. The detection of close-in giant planets around other stars was the first clue that this pattern is not universal and that planets' orbits can change substantially after their formation. Here, we report another violation of the orbit-composition pattern: two planets orbiting the same star with orbital distances differing by only 10% and densities differing by a factor of 8. One planet is likely a rocky \"super-Earth,\" whereas the other is more akin to Neptune. These planets are 20 times more closely spaced and have a larger density contrast than any adjacent pair of planets in the solar system.

Determining whether Earth-like planets are common or rare looms as a touchstone in the question of life in the universe. We searched for Earth-size planets that cross in front of their host stars by examining the brightness measurements of 42,000 stars from National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Kepler mission. We found 603 planets, including 10 that are Earth size (1—2 R⊕) and receive comparable levels of stellar energy to that of Earth (0.25 — 4 F⊕). We account for Kepler's imperfect detectability of such planets by injecting synthetic planet—caused dimmings into the Kepler brightness measurements and recording the fraction detected. We find that 11 ± 4% of Sun-like stars harbor an Earth-size planet receiving between one and four times the stellar intensity as Earth. We also find that the occurrence of Earth-size planets is constant with increasing orbital period (P), within equal intervals of logP up to ∼200 d. Extrapolating, one finds $5.7^{+1.7}_{-2.2}\\%$ of Sun-like stars harbor an Earth-size planet with orbital periods of 200—400 d.

We report the detection of a planet whose orbit surrounds a pair of low-mass stars. Data from the Kepler spacecraft reveal transits of the planet across both stars, in addition to the mutual eclipses of the stars, giving precise constraints on the absolute dimensions of all three bodies. The planet is comparable to Saturn in mass and size and is on a nearly circular 229-day orbit around its two parent stars. The eclipsing stars are 20 and 69% as massive as the Sun and have an eccentric 41-day orbit. The motions of all three bodies are confined to within 0.5° of a single plane, suggesting that the planet formed within a circumbinary disk.

Stars hosting hot Jupiters are often observed to have high obliquities, whereas stars with multiple coplanar planets have been seen to have low obliquities. This has been interpreted as evidence that hot-Jupiter formation is linked to dynamical disruption, as opposed to planet migration through a protoplanetary disk. We used asteroseismology to measure a large obliquity for Kepler-56, a red giant star hosting two transiting coplanar planets. These observations show that spin-orbit misalignments are not confined to hot-Jupiter systems. Misalignments in a broader class of systems had been predicted as a consequence of torques from wide-orbiting companions, and indeed radial velocity measurements revealed a third companion in a wide orbit in the Kepler-56 system.

We present a comprehensive study of phase curves and secondary eclipses in the Kepler data set using all data from 16 quarters that were available in 2013-2014. Our sample consists of 20 confirmed planets with Rp > 4 Re, P < 10 d, Vmag < 15. Here we derive their temperatures and albedos, with an eye toward constraining models for the formation and evolution of such planets. Where there was overlap our results confirm parameters derived by previous studies, whereas we present new results for Kepler 1b-8b, 12b-15b, 17b, 40b, 41b, 43b, 44b, 76b, 77b, and 412b derived in a consistent manner. We also present light-curve analyses for Kepler 91b and Kepler 74b, which both show extra dimmings at times other than from the expected primary and secondary eclipses. Corrected for thermal emission, we find most of the massive planets from our sample to be low in albedo (< 0.1) with a few having higher albedo (>0.1).

We report the detection of Kepler-47, a system consisting of two planets orbiting around an eclipsing pair of stars. The inner and outer planets have radii 3.0 and 4.6 times that of Earth, respectively. The binary star consists of a Sun-like star and a companion roughly one-third its size, orbiting each other every 7.45 days. With an orbital period of 49.5 days, 18 transits of the inner planet have been observed, allowing a detailed characterization of its orbit and those of the stars. The outer planet's orbital period is 303.2 days, and although the planet is not Earth-like, it resides within the classical \"habitable zone,\" where liquid water could exist on an Earth-like planet. With its two known planets, Kepler-47 establishes that close binary stars can host complete planetary systems.

We analyze 8 years of precise radial velocity measurements from the Keck Planet Search, characterizing the detection threshold, selection effects, and completeness of the survey. We first carry out a systematic search for planets, by assessing the false-alarm probability associated with Keplerian orbit fits to the data. This allows us to understand the detection threshold for each star in terms of the number and time baseline of the observations, and the underlying “noise” from measurement errors, intrinsic stellar jitter, or additional low-mass planets. We show that all planets with orbital periods P < 2000 days P < 2000     days , velocity amplitudes K > 20 m s-1 K > 20     m   s - 1 , and eccentricities e ≲ 0.6 e ≲ 0.6 have been announced, and we summarize the candidates at lower amplitudes and longer orbital periods. For the remaining stars, we calculate upper limits on the velocity amplitude of a companion. For orbital periods less than the duration of the observations, these are typically10 m s-1 10     m   s - 1 and increase∝ P 2 ∝ P 2 for longer periods. We then use the nondetections to derive completeness corrections at low amplitudes and long orbital periods and discuss the resulting distribution of minimum mass and orbital period. We give the fraction of stars with a planet as a function of minimum mass and orbital period and extrapolate to long-period orbits and low planet masses. A power-law fit for planet masses>0.3 M J > 0.3     M J and periods< 2000 days < 2000     days gives a mass-period distribution dN = CM α P β d ln Md ln P d N = C M α P β d ln M d ln P withα = -0.31 ± 0.2 α = - 0.31 ± 0.2 ,β = 0.26 ± 0.1 β = 0.26 ± 0.1 , and the normalization constant C C such that 10.5% of solar type stars have a planet with mass in the range0.3–10 M J 0.3 – 10     M J and orbital period 2–2000 days. The orbital period distribution shows an increase in the planet fraction by a factor of≈5 ≈ 5 for orbital periods≳300 days ≳ 300     days . Extrapolation gives 17%–20% of stars having gas giant planets within 20 AU. Finally, we constrain the occurrence rate of planets orbiting M dwarfs compared to FGK dwarfs, taking into account differences in detectability.

We review the recent theoretical and observational developments concerning the interaction of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) with the Milky Way and its neighbourhood. An emerging picture is that the LMC is a fairly massive companion (10–20% of the Milky Way mass) and just passed the pericentre of its orbit, likely for the first time. The gravitational perturbation caused by the LMC is manifested at different levels. The most immediate effect is the deflection of orbits of stars, stellar streams, or satellite galaxies passing in the vicinity of the LMC. Less well known but equally important is the displacement (reflex motion) of central regions of the Milky Way about the centre of mass of both galaxies. Since the Milky Way is not a rigid body, this displacement varies with the distance from the LMC, and as a result, the Galaxy is deformed and its outer regions (beyond a few tens kpc) acquire a net velocity with respect to its centre. These phenomena need to be taken into account at the level of precision warranted by current and future observational data, and improvements on the modelling side are also necessary for an adequate interpretation of these data.

The questions of how planets form and how common Earth-like planets are can be addressed by measuring the distribution of exoplanet masses and orbital periods. We report the occurrence rate of close-in planets (with orbital periods less than 50 days), based on precise Doppler measurements of 166 Sun-like stars. We measured increasing planet occurrence with decreasing planet mass (M). Extrapolation of a power-law mass distribution fitted to our measurements, df/dlogM = 0.39 M⁻⁰.⁴⁸, predicts that 23% of stars harbor a close-in Earth-mass planet (ranging from 0.5 to 2.0 Earth masses). Theoretical models of planet formation predict a deficit of planets in the domain from 5 to 30 Earth masses and with orbital periods less than 50 days. This region of parameter space is in fact well populated, implying that such models need substantial revision.

The Kepler spacecraft is monitoring more than 150,000 stars for evidence of planets transiting those stars. We report the detection of two Saturn-size planets that transit the same Sun-like star, based on 7 months of Kepler observations. Their 19.2- and 38.9-day periods are presently increasing and decreasing at respective average rates of 4 and 39 minutes per orbit; in addition, the transit times of the inner body display an alternating variation of smaller amplitude. These signatures are characteristic of gravitational interaction of two planets near a 2:1 orbital resonance. Six radial-velocity observations show that these two planets are the most massive objects orbiting close to the star and substantially improve the estimates of their masses. After removing the signal of the two confirmed giant planets, we identified an additional transiting super-Earth-size planet candidate with a period of 1.6 days.