Astronomy:The Smithers Divide

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A plot demonstrating The Smithers Divide, created using scipy and matplotlib.

In Binary Systems containing one or more planets, if [math]\displaystyle{ \frac {\phi_{PaSa}} {\epsilon} \lt 0.75 }[/math], the planet's orbit is almost always unstable, where [math]\displaystyle{ \phi_{PaSa} }[/math] is the ratio of planetary semi-major axis to stellar semi-major axis, and [math]\displaystyle{ \epsilon }[/math] is the stellar orbital eccentricity. However, when [math]\displaystyle{ \frac{\phi}{\epsilon} = 0.25 }[/math], the planetary orbits appear to be stable. The Smithers Divide is this phenomenon, and is currently a topic of ongoing research at the University of California, Santa Cruz. It is named after Benjamin Smithers, a student at the University of California, Santa Cruz, California, United States.

External links

• Github.com
• Smithers, et al. March 2015. The Smithers Divide