Selected Studies Of Orbital Stability And Habitability In Star-planet Systems

The study of planets remaining in orbit around one star with another starinterfering is an important topic of orbital mechanics and astrobiology. The onset of instability for a planet which is part of a stellar binary system is investigated by performing numerical simulations of the circular restricted three body problem. Synodic velocity phase space portraits are used with the hodograph in order to obtain a new criterion for determining planetary stability. The stability limits obtained via these methods agree with previous methods that were obtained based on simulations over much longer time intervals. In addition, the timely case of a recently proposed and controversial planet candidate in the binary system nu Octantis is addressed. Finally, the issue of habitability where a giant planet resides in the habitable zone is investigated for the specific case of HD 23079.