Mapping exomoon trajectories around Earth-like exoplanets

Abstract

ABSTRACT We consider a system in which both the parent star and the Earth-like exoplanet move on circular orbits. Using numerical methods, such as the orbit classification technique, we study all types of trajectories of possible exomoons around the exoplanet. In particular, we scan the phase space around the exoplanet and we distinguish between bounded, collisional, and escaping trajectories, considering both retrograde and prograde types of motion. In the case of bounded regular motion, we also use the grid method and a standard predictor-corrector procedure for revealing the corresponding network of symmetric periodic solutions, while we also compute their linear stability.