Stability Map of Saturn (IMAGE)
Caption
Gaining a full understanding of systems of exoplanets and distant stars is difficult, because the initial positions and velocities of the exoplanets are unknown. Determining whether the system dynamics are quasi-periodic or chaotic is cumbersome, expensive and computationally demanding. In this week's Chaos, Tamás Kovács delivers an alternative method for stability analysis of exoplanetary bodies using only the observed time series data to deduce dynamical measurements and quantify the unpredictability of exoplanet systems. This image shows a stability map of Saturn obtained by chaos indicator MEGNO (a) and recurrence network measures average path length (b) and transitivity (c). The latter two panels are based on transit timing variation of Jupiter and the radial velocity of the sun, respectively.
Credit
Tamás Kovács
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