A close-in giant planet escapes engulfment by its star.

When main-sequence stars expand into red giants, they are expected to engulf close-in planets. Until now, the absence of planets with short orbital periods around post-expansion, core-helium-burning red giants has been interpreted as evidence that short-period planets around Sun-like stars do not survive the giant expansion phase of their host stars. Here we present the discovery that the giant planet 8 Ursae Minoris b orbits a core-helium-burning red giant.

A white dwarf accreting planetary material determined from X-ray observations.

The atmospheres of a large proportion of white dwarf stars are polluted by heavy elements that are expected to sink out of visible layers on short timescales. This has been interpreted as a signature of ongoing accretion of debris from asteroids, comets and giant planets. This scenario is supported by the detection of debris discs and transits of planetary fragments around some white dwarfs.

A remnant planetary core in the hot-Neptune desert.

The interiors of giant planets remain poorly understood. Even for the planets in the Solar System, difficulties in observation lead to large uncertainties in the properties of planetary cores. Exoplanets that have undergone rare evolutionary processes provide a route to understanding planetary interiors.

A planetesimal orbiting within the debris disc around a white dwarf star.

Many white dwarf stars show signs of having accreted smaller bodies, implying that they may host planetary systems. A small number of these systems contain gaseous debris discs, visible through emission lines. We report a stable 123.

Dynamical and Biological Panspermia Constraints Within Multi-planet Exosystems.

As discoveries of multiple planets in the habitable zone of their parent star mount, developing analytical techniques to quantify extrasolar intra-system panspermia will become increasingly important. Here, we provide user-friendly prescriptions that describe the asteroid impact characteristics which would be necessary to transport life both inwards and outwards within these systems within a single framework. Our focus is on projectile generation and delivery and our expressions are algebraic, eliminating the need for the solution of differential equations.

Post-main-sequence planetary system evolution.

The fates of planetary systems provide unassailable insights into their formation and represent rich cross-disciplinary dynamical laboratories. Mounting observations of post-main-sequence planetary systems necessitate a complementary level of theoretical scrutiny. Here, I review the diverse dynamical processes which affect planets, asteroids, comets and pebbles as their parent stars evolve into giant branch, white dwarf and neutron stars.