Connessioni magnetiche tra stella e pianeti nel sistema esoplanetario più vicino a noi La maggior parte delle stelle produce un campo magnetico al proprio interno che, interagendo con il plasma stellare, genera tutta una classe di fenomeni ad alta e altissima energia di grande interesse scientifico. Un esempio tipico sono i brillamenti (flares): improvvisi rilasci di energia in strutture
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The search for terrestrial like exoplanets in the habitable zone of their stars is one of the most significant areas of exoplanetary science. The habitable zone is defined as the region around a given star where rocky planets are within the suitable temperature range to potentially support liquid water on their surfaces. Earth-like planets within habitable zones are therefore the
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The study of the architecture of planetary systems, and in particular that of the spin-orbit angle (which is the inclination of the planetary orbit with respect to the stellar rotation axis) can unveil important details on the dynamical evolution of planetary systems. In particular, young planets typically migrate radially, changing their distance to the host star and interacting with the
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The study of planets orbiting around young stars (younger than 100 million years) can help astronomers understanding the physical processes setting the early evolution of planetary systems. However, young stars are typically characterized by rapid rotation and intense magnetic activity, phenomena which produce photometric and spectroscopic signals that can mimic and confuse those due to the presence of planets. It
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The NASA satellite Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) it’s one of the most effective telescopes to search for exoplanets. TESS is designed to find exoplanets with the transits method, e.g. by observing the periodic occultations of stars by their planets during their orbits. To date, about 27% of the exoplanets discovered with TESS belong to the class of the sub-neptunians. These planets have a
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Ultra-hot Jupiters are gaseous planets orbiting at close distances from their central stars, with rotation periods shorter than 3 days. Their atmospheres are thus heated, more than 2000 degrees, by the incident radiation emitted by the central star. For this reason, the atmospheres of ultra-hot Jupiters shows peculiar properties compared with planets of other types. For instance, they are affected
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