GIANT PLANETS IN PROTOPLANETARY DISKS WITH SPIRAL ARMS?

There are many theories about the formation of the planets but the direct observational evidences are quite a few. Recently, the ground-based telescopes photographed two large spiral arms around two young stars. The mechanisms that have generated these structures are not very clear.

Recent studies based on computer simulations suggest that such structures may indicate the presence of giant planets "invisible" (too faint to be seen with existing tools). A comparison between simulations and direct observations may be able to obtain not only the position of the planet but also its mass.
The method proposed in addition to opening a new avenue for detecting extrasolar planets also offers a new look at the mechanisms that act in the early stages of planet formation.

To know more:
http://arxiv.org/abs/1507.03596
http://arxiv.org/abs/1507.03599
http://arxiv.org/abs/1511.01178
http://arxiv.org/abs/1412.3412
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2015/40/full/

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ORBITAL PERIODS OF THE PLANETS

For orbital period generally we refer to the sidereal period, that is the temporal cycle that it takes an object to make a full orbit, relative to the stars. This is the orbital period in an inertial (non-rotating) frame of reference (365,25 days for the earth).

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