Oct 11, 2012 Daniel Fabrycky, University of California - Santa
Cruz "Exoplanetary Systems from Kepler" The architecture of the
Solar System is characterized by the planets orbiting in the
same direction the Sun spins. The interpretation is the whole
system arose from a spinning gas cloud, which flattened as it
lost energy. Surprisingly, although hundreds of exoplanets had
been found, we are only now learning about orbital alignments,
via the stringent constraints and large numbers afforded by
multiply-transiting systems in NASA's Kepler mission. I will
take stock of the ~400 systems with more than one transiting
planet found so far. By comparing transit durations of planets
in the same system, we can see that inclinations of planets
relative to each other are on the order of 2 degrees, just like
in the Solar System. In one system of 3 planets, we can see the
planets crossing starspots, and the detailed pattern shows that
the planetary orbits and stellar spin are oriented in the same
direction. Finally, I desc