The Sharjah Academy for Astronomy, Space Sciences, and Technology (SAASST) has organized on Dec. 09, 2020, its bi-weekly general lecture under the title “Planetary Migration”. The virtual lecture was given by Mr. Mohamed Hani Atwi, one of the SAASST planetarium scientific guide. Planetary migration happens when a planet alters its orbital parameters when it intereacts with a disk of gas that made the star and its planets. This mechanism is used to explain hot Jupiters, these so-called exoplanets with Jovian masses that have very close orbits to their respective stars. Following the theory of planet formation, these planets cannot form so close. Planetary migration has been used to explain them.
Mr. Hani explained the different mechanisms (Type I, II, and III) through tidal migration, planetesimal-driven migration, gravitational scattering, and Kozai cycles and tidal friction. The difference among these mechanism lie on the circumstances in the disk that enable the mechanism to efficiently transfer energy and / or angular momentum to and from planetary orbits.
The lecture was followed online by a large number of students, researchers, and the general public.
