Listing all the research papers whose results shaped the understanding of planets in The Planet Factory would make for a list as long as the book. To avoid such inundation, I’ve tried to pick out original sources or reviews for a few key results that are tricky to track down.
Preface: The Blind Planet Hunters
The discovery of the first planet found around a Sun-like star. 51 Pegasi b: M. Mayor & D. Queloz 1995. A Jupiter-mass companion to a solar-type star. Nature 378:355–359.
The first transiting exoplanet discovery, HD 209458. The two papers announcing the find were published in the same January 2000 edition of the journal, which actually came out in December 1999: 1. D. Charbonneau et al. 2000. Detection of planetary transits across a Sun-like star. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 529:L45–48; 2. G. Henry et al. 2000. A transiting ‘51 Peg-like’ planet. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 529:L41–44.
Chapter 2: The Record-breaking Building Project
A comprehensive review of the research on how to build a planet from dust to planetesimals: A. Johansen et al. 2014. The multifaceted planetesimal formation process. In Protostars and Planets VI (University of Arizona Press, Tuscon, USA, 2014). This review accompanies talks presented at the Protostars and Planets VI meeting, which are freely available online: www.mpia.de/homes/ppvi.
Chapter 4: Air and Sea
Fred Whipple’s review of Ernst Öpik’s work: F. Whipple 1972. Ernst Öpik’s research on comets. Irish Astronomical Journal Supplement 10:71–76.
Chapter 5: The Impossible Planet
For excellent descriptions of new exoplanet discoveries, Sean Raymond’s blog, PlanetPlanet (planetplanet.net), is a great resource.
Proposal of Jupiter’s grand tack: K. Walsh 2011. A low mass for Mars from Jupiter’s early gas-driven migration. Nature 475:206–209.
The Nice Model: R. Gomes et al. 2005. Origin of the cataclysmic Late Heavy Bombardment period of terrestrial planets. Nature 435:466–469.
The Nice Model II: H. Levison et al. 2011. Late orbital instabilities in the outer planets induced by interaction with a self-gravitating planetesimal disk. The Astronomical Journal 142:152–162.
The planet with the density of polystyrene, WASP-17b: D. Anderson et al. 2010. WASP-17b: An ultra-low density planet in a probable retrograde orbit. The Astrophysical Journal 709:159–167. The discovery was described in Wired (where Coel Hellier is quoted) 2009: Aack, no breaks! Giant new exoplanet goes the wrong way, http://bit.ly/2kuEaGc.
Chapter 6: We Are Not normal
A precise mass measurement for Kepler-93b was finally announced by C. Dressing et al. 2015. The Mass of Kepler-93b and the composition of terrestrial planets. The Astrophysical Journal 800:135–141
The mass measurement for Kepler-138d (then named KOI-314c) by transit timing variations: D. Kipping et al. 2014. The hunt for exomoons with Kepler (HEK): IV. A search for moons around eight M dwarfs. The Astrophysical Journal 784:28–41. The press release by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (including a quote from Kipping) 2014: Newfound planet is Earth-mass but gassy, http://bit.ly/2kvR47c.
The rough rule of thumb that suggests planets larger than 1.5 Earth radii are mini-Neptunes rather than rocky planets: L. Rogers 2015. Most 1.6 Earth-radius planets are not rocky. The Astrophysical Journal 801:41–53.
Investigations of whether super Earths form from a different-shaped protoplanetary disc: 1. H. Schlichting 2014. Formation of close in super Earths and mini-Neptunes: required disk masses and their implications. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 795:L15–19; 2. S. Raymond & C. Cossou 2014. No universal minimum-mass extrasolar nebula: evidence against in situ accretion of systems of hot super Earths. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters 440:L11–15.
A hot Jupiter’s atmosphere overflowing to leave a mini Neptune: F. Valsecchi, F. Rasio & J. Steffen 2014. From hot Jupiters to super Earths via Roche lobe overflow. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 793:L3–8.
The hot Jupiter-broom for piling up material to create a super Earth: S. Raymond, A. Mandell & S. Sigurdsson 2006. Exotic Earths: forming habitable worlds with giant planet migration. Science 313:1413–1416.
The discovery of the Kepler-11 with six planets was described (with quotes of amazement from Jack Lissauer) by NASA 2011: NASA’s Kepler Spacecraft discovers extraordinary new planetary system, http://go.nasa.gov/2kKtimo and a number of other sites, including the Guardian 2011: NASA scientists discover planetary system, http://bit.ly/2lv7ydU.
Super Earth formation at the edge of the dead zone: S. Chatterjee & J. Tan 2014. Inside-out planet formation. The Astrophysical Journal 780:53–64.
Computer modelling of how migration might change direction: C. Cossou et al. 2014. Hot super Earths and giant planet cores from different migration histories. Astronomy & Astrophysics 569:A56–71.
Chapter 7: Water, Diamonds or Lava? The Planet Recipe Nobody Knew
The models of planetesimal formation around a carbon-rich star discussed by Torrence Johnson and Jonathan Lunine: T. Johnson et al. 2012. Planetesimal compositions in exoplanet systems. The Astrophysical Journal 757:192–202. Johnson’s joke about ‘no snow beyond the snow line’ and Lunine’s observation on carbon worlds was in an accompanying news release by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory 2013: Carbon Worlds May be Waterless, Finds NASA Study, http://go.nasa.gov/2kVk0WA.
Possible changes in the geology of rocky planets with different compositions: 1. C. Unterborn et al. 2014. The role of carbon in extrasolar planetary geodynamics and habitability. The Astrophysical Journal 793:124–123; 2. J. Bond, D. O’Brien & D. Lauretta 2010. The compositional diversity of extrasolar terrestrial planets. I. In situ simulations. The Astrophysical Journal 715:1050–1070.
Measuring the carbon abundance in 55 Cancri: J. Teske et al. 2013. Carbon and oxygen abundances in cool metal-rich exoplanet hosts: A case study of the C/O ratio of 55 Cancri. The Astrophysical Journal 778:132–140.
A protoplanetary disc with C/O > 0.65 might still spawn carbon-rich planets: J. Moriarty, N. Madhusudhan & D. Fischer 2014. Chemistry in an evolving protoplanetary disc: Effects on terrestrial planet composition. The Astrophysical Journal 787:81–90.
Could 55 Cancri e be a carbon world? N. Madhusudhan, K. Lee & O. Mousis 2012. A possible carbon-rich interior in super Earth 55 Cancri e. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 759:L40–44.
Cambridge University news release on 55 Cancri e (including quote from Madhusudhan) 2015: Astronomers find first evidence of changing conditions on a super Earth, http://bit.ly/1c0gsu1.
The geology of the potentially magnesium rich Tau Ceti planets: M. Pagano et al. 2015. The chemical composition of τ Ceti and possible effects on terrestrial planets. The Astrophysical Journal 803:90–95.
The temperature variations on 55 Cancri e: 1. B.-O. Demory et al. 2016. Variability in the super Earth 55 Cnc e. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 455:2018–2027; 2. B.-O. Demory et al. 2016. A map of the large day-night temperature gradient of a super Earth exoplanet. Nature 532:207–209.
The fractionating column atmosphere of CoRoT-7b: L. Schaefer & B. Fegley 2009. Chemistry of silicate atmosphere of evaporating super Earths. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 703:L113–117. The accompanying article by Washington University in St Louis (including a quote from Fegley) 2009: Forecast for discovered exoplanet: clouds with a chance of pebbles, http://bit.ly/2ku8GQF.
The helium atmosphere of Gliese 436b: R. Hu, S. Seager & Y. Yung 2015. Helium atmosphere on warm Neptune- and sub-Neptune-sized exoplanets and applications to GJ 436b. The Astrophysical Journal 807:8–21. The accompanying news release by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (with a quote from Seager) 2015: Helium-shrouded planets may be common in our Galaxy, http://go.nasa.gov/2k5MrNG.
Chapter 8: Worlds Around Dead Stars
A wonderful account of the pulsar planet discoveries is given in Ken Croswell’s Planet Quest: the Epic Discovery of Alien Solar Systems (Free Press, New York, USA, 1997).
For a lively and readable work on pulsars themselves, try Geoff McNamara’s Clocks in the Sky: the Story of Pulsars (Praxis Publishing Ltd, Chichester, UK, 2008).
The first millisecond pulsar discovery: D. Backer et al. 1982. A millisecond pulsar. Nature 300:615–618.
Wolszczan and Frail’s discovery is also described in an article by Charles DuBois in Penn State News 1997: Planets from the Very Start, http://bit.ly/2kurW0x.
Alex Wolszczan’s first-hand account of the pulsar planet discoveries: A. Wolszczan 2012. Discovery of pulsar planets. New Astronomy Reviews 56:2–8.
The signature flash of black widow pulsar PSR J1311-3430: H. Pletsch et al. 2012. Binary millisecond pulsar discovery via Gamma-ray pulsations. Science 338:1314–1317.
The star that became a diamond world orbiting pulsar PSR J1719-1438: M. Bailes et al. 2011. Transformation of a star into a planet in a millisecond pulsar binary. Science 333:1717–1720.
Chapter 9: The Lands of Two Suns
Walker’s first-hand account of nearly discovering a planet around γ Cephei: G. Walker 2012. The first high-precision radial velocity search for extra-solar planets. New Astronomy Reviews 56:9–15.
The planet around γ Cephei was finally announced in: A. Hatzes et al. 2003. A planetary companion to γ Cephei A. The Astrophysical Journal 599:1383–1394.
The survey of discs around young stars in Taurus-Auriga: R. Harris et al. 2012. A resolved census of millimeter emission from Taurus multiple star systems. The Astrophysical Journal 751:115–134.
Comparison of planets in binary systems with different separations: J. Wang et al. 2014. Influence of stellar multiplicity on planet formation. II. Planets are less common in multiple-star systems with separations smaller than 1500au. The Astrophysical Journal 791:111–126.
A research review of how a binary star can disrupt the planet-building process for circumstellar orbits: Thébault & Haghighipour 2014. Planet formation in binaries. In Planetary Exploration and Science: Recent Advances and Applications (Springer Geophysics, Heidelberg, Germany, 2015).
Models to determine if the protoplanetary disc around γ Cephei would have sufficient mass to form a gas giant: H. Jang-Condell, M. Mugrauer & T. Schmidt 2008. Disk truncation and planet formation in γ Cephei. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 683:L191–194.
The planet detection around Alpha Centauri B: X. Dumusque et al. 2012. An Earth-mass planet orbiting a Centauri B. Nature 491:207–211.
The fresh analysis of the data that called the planet into question: A. Hatzes 2013. The radial velocity detection of Earth-mass planets in the presence of activity noise: The case of α Centauri Bb. The Astrophysical Journal 770:133–148.
The announcement of the Tatooine world, Kepler-16b: L. Doyle et al. 2011. Kepler-16: A transiting circumbinary planet. Science 333:1602–1606.
The theory for how the pulsar, white dwarf and gas giant triplet (PSR 1620-26) came to exist was proposed about 10 years after the discovery: S. Sigurdsson et al. 2003. A young white dwarf companion to pulsar B1620-26: Evidence for early planet formation. Science 301:193–196.
Whether the observed variations in the binary transits such as NN Serpentis really imply the presence of planets is discussed by J. Horner et al. 2012. A detailed investigation of the proposed NN Serpentis planetary system. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 425:749–756.
The planet in a three-star system, HD 131399Ab: K. Wagner et al. 2016. Direct imaging discovery of a Jovian exoplanet within a triple-star system. Science 353:673–678.
Phil Plait’s Slate article on HD 131399Ab 2016: An alien planet orbits in a triple-star system… and we have photos, http://slate.me/29JnqoY.
Chapter 10: The Planetary Crime Scene
Mike Brown’s blog is a great read for posts on the outer Solar System: www.mikebrownsplanets.com.
The discovery of the dwarf planet Sedna: M. Brown, C. Trujillo & D. Rabinowitz 2004. Discovery of a candidate Inner Oort Cloud planetoid. The Astrophysical Journal 671:645–649.
Changes in young Neptune’s orbit that may have scattered the distant dwarf planets: R. Dawson & R. Murray-Clay 2012. Neptune’s wild days: Constraints from the eccentricity distribution of the classical Kuiper Belt The Astrophysical Journal 750:43–71.
Measuring our Solar System’s centre of mass using pulsar signals: N. Zakamska & S. Tremain 2005. Constraints on the acceleration of the solar system from high-precision timing. The Astrophysical Journal 130:1939–1950.
Massive eccentric planets can be dragged on to circular orbits by the gas disc: B. Bromley & S. Kenyon 2014, The fate of scattered planets. The Astrophysical Journal 796:141–149.
The planet with one of the ‘fiercest storms in the Galaxy’, HD 80606b: G. Laughlin et al. 2009. Rapid heating of the atmosphere of an extrasolar planet. Nature 457:562–564. The press release by NASA where Laughlin is quoted 2009: Spitzer watches wild weather on a star-skimming planet, http://go.nasa.gov/2ltA3J6.
The ejection of a planet from γ Andromedae A to explain the highly perturbed orbits of two of the other planets: E. Ford, V. Lystad & F. Rasio 2005. Planet–planet scattering in the γ Andromedae system. Nature 434:873–876.
Smaller planets have less eccentric orbits: V. Van Eylen & S. Albrecht 2015. The Astrophysical Journal 808:126–145.
Chapter 11: Going Rogue
Sean Raymond’s excellent piece in Aeon magazine: Life in the dark, http://bit.ly/2jF2R2g.
Did our Solar System once have an extra gas giant planet?: D. Nesvorny & A. Morbidelli 2012. Statistical study of the early Solar System’s instability with four, five and six giant planets. The Astronomical Journal 144:117–136.
The discovery of the incredibly distance world, HD 106906b, with its debris disc: V. Bailey et al. 2014. HD 106906 b: A planetary-mass companion outside a massive debris disk. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 740:L4–9.
The follow-up observations that identified the disc asymmetry: P. Kalas et al. 2015. Direct imaging of an asymmetric debris disk in the HD 106906 planetary system. The Astrophysical Journal 814:32–43.
Observations of tiny dense clouds that could collapse to planet-sized objects (the same team also coined the term ‘globulettes’): G. Gahm et al. 2013. Mass and motion of globulettes in the Rosette Nebula. Astronomy & Astrophysics 555:A57–73.
The potential for a rogue Earth to maintain heat has been considered in a few different publications, including: 1. D. Stevenson 1999. Life-sustaining planets in interstellar space? Nature 400:32; 2. G. Laughlin & F. Adams 2000. The frozen Earth: binary scattering events and the fate of the Solar System. Icarus 145:614–627; 3. D. Abbot & E. Switzer 2011. The steppenwolf: a proposal for a habitable planet in interstellar space. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 735:L27–30; 4. J. Debes & S. Sigurdsson 2007. The survival rate of ejected terrestrial planets with moons. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 668:L167–170.
Chapter 12: The Goldilocks Criteria
The boundaries of the temperate zone (also known as the habitable or Goldilocks Zone): J. Kasting, D. Whitmire & R. Reynolds 1993. Habitable zones around main sequence stars. Icarus 101:108–128.
The Venus Zone: S. Kane, R. Kopparapu & S. Domagal-Goldman 2014. On the frequency of potential Venus analogs from Kepler data. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 794:L5–9.
Chapter 13: The Search for Another Earth
The discovery of the first transiting planet in the temperate zone, Kepler-22b: W. Borucki et al. 2012. Kepler-22b: A 2.4 Earth-radius planet in the habitable zone of a Sun-like star. The Astrophysical Journal 745:120–135. News release by NASA (with quote by Borucki) 2011: NASA’s Kepler mission confirms its first planet in the habitable zone of a Sun-like star, http://go.nasa.gov/2kpfix8.
The discovery of Gliese 581c (declared ‘the most Earth-like of all known exoplanets’ at the time): S. Udry et al. 2007. The HARPS search for southern extra-solar planets XI. Super Earths (5 and 8 M⊕) in a 3-planet system. Astronomy & Astrophysics Letters 469:L43–L47.
The existence of Gliese 581d and g was questioned in P. Robertson et al. 2014. Stellar activity masquerading as planets in the habitable zone of the M dwarf Gliese 581. Science 345:440–444.
The Earth-sized Kepler-186f: E. Quintana et al. 2014. An Earth-sized planet in the habitable zone of a cool star. Science 344:277–280.
Natalie Batalha’s description of trying to find the transit of a planet with a size and orbit similar to our own was on an Advexon TV NOVA documentary 2014: Kepler 186f – Life after Earth, http://bit.ly/1xPw9Jj.
The frequency of Earth-sized worlds: 1. F. Fressin et al. 2013. The false positive rate of Kepler and the occurrence of planets. The Astrophysical Journal 766:81–100; 2. C. Dressing & D. Charbonneau 2013. The occurrence rate of small planets around small stars. The Astrophysical Journal 767:95–114.
The discovery of our nearest exoplanet: G. Anglada-Escudé et al. 2016. A terrestrial planet candidate in a temperate orbit around Proxima Centauri. Nature 536:437–440.
Chapter 14: Alien Vistas
The Hubble Space Telescope’s attempt to explore Gliese 1214b’s atmosphere: L. Kreidberg et al. 2014. Clouds in the atmosphere of the super Earth exoplanet GJ1214b. Nature 505:69–72.
Could water be stored in the mantle to prevent a water world? N. Cowan & D. Abbott 2014. Water cycling between ocean and mantle: super Earths need not be water worlds. The Astrophysical Journal 781:27–33.
The failure of oceans to regulate the planet’s temperature: D. Kitzmann et al. 2015. The unstable CO2 feedback cycle on ocean planets. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 452:3752–3758.
Life on a gas giant core: R. Luger et al. 2015. Habitable evaporated cores: Transforming mini-Neptunes into super Earths in the habitable zones of M dwarfs. Astrobiology 15:57–88.
Sean Raymond has a great piece for Nautilus magazine: Forget ‘Earth-Like’ – we’ll first find aliens on eyeball planets. http://bit.ly/1vRsb1J.
The ability of an eyeball world to support an atmosphere: M. Joshi, R. Haberle & R. Reynolds 1997. Simulations of the atmospheres of synchronously rotating terrestrial planets orbiting M dwarfs: Conditions for atmospheric collapse and the implications for habitability. Icarus 129:450–465.
Climate and water content of eyeball planets: R. Pierrehumbert 2011. A palette of climates for Gliese 581g. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 726:L8–12.
The turning of the atmosphere could break tidal lock: J. Leconte et al. 2015. Asynchronous rotation of Earth-mass planets in the habitable zone of lower-mass stars. Science 347:632–635.
The shapes of temperate zones around binary stars and stable circumbinary orbits: S. Kane & N. Hinkel 2013. On the habitable zones of circumbinary planetary systems. The Astrophysical Journal 762:7–14.
The temperate zone boundaries in Figure 22 were sketched based on calculations from the website described in T. Müller & N. Haghighipour 2014. Calculating the habitable zone of multiple star systems with a new interactive website. The Astrophysical Journal 782:26–43. http://astro.twam.info/hz.
The influence of the second star for planets in circumstellar binary systems: S. Eggl et al. 2012. An analytics method to determine habitable zones for S-type planetary orbits in binary star systems. The Astrophysical Journal 752:74–84.
The possibility of maintaining liquid water and life on an Earth-like world in an eccentric orbit: 1. D. Williams & D. Pollard 2002. Earth-like worlds on eccentric orbits: excursions beyond the habitable zone. International Journal of Astrobiology 1:61–69; 2. S. Kane & D. Gelino 2012. The habitable zone and extreme planetary orbits. Astrobiology 12:940–945.
A super-habitable world: 1. René Heller’s 2015 article for Scientific American 312:20–27. Better than Earth; 2. R. Heller & J. Armstrong 2013. Superhabitable worlds. Astrobiology 14:50–66.
Chapter 15: Beyond the Goldilocks Zone
Evidence for plate tectonics on Europa: S. Kattenhorn & L. Prockter 2014. Evidence for subduction in the ice shell of Europa. Nature Geoscience 7:762–767.
Chapter 16: The Moon Factory
Our outer Solar System’s moons and moon formation research review: R. Heller et al. 2014. Formation, habitability and detection of extrasolar moons. Astrobiology 14:798–835.
The formation of Triton as a destroyed binary: C. Agnor & D. Hamilton 2006. Neptune’s capture of its moon Triton in a binary-planet gravitational encounter. Nature 441:192–194.
Chapter 17: The Search for Life
Hunting for biosignatures on Earth: C. Sagan et al. 1993. A search for life on Earth from the Galileo spacecraft. Nature 365:715–721.
The ratio of carbon-12 to carbon-13 in Titan’s atmosphere measured by the Huygens probe: H. Riemann at al. 2005. The abundances of constituents of Titan’s atmosphere from the GCMS instrument on the Huygens probe. Nature 438:779–784.
Nancy Kiang’s 2008 article for Scientific American 298:48–55. The colour of plants on other worlds.
Finally, if you feel ready for a few equations in a very readable text, I recommend Caleb Scharf’s Extrasolar Planets and Astrobiology (University Science Books, Sausalito, CA, USA, 2009).