Billy Quarles (@saturnaxis) header
Billy Quarles (@saturnaxis) profile picture

Asst Prof at East Texas A&M University. Aficionado of planets orbiting binary stars. Double sunsets are twice as nice! All opinions are my own.

Commerce, TX
Joined November 2011
Photo by Billy Quarles (@saturnaxis)Photo by Billy Quarles (@saturnaxis)Photo by Billy Quarles (@saturnaxis)Photo by Billy Quarles (@saturnaxis)Photo by Billy Quarles (@saturnaxis)Photo by Billy Quarles (@saturnaxis)Photo by Billy Quarles (@saturnaxis)Photo by Billy Quarles (@saturnaxis)Photo by Billy Quarles (@saturnaxis)
Billy Quarles retweeted
Alpha Centauri A might host a habitable-zone giant planet. If confirmed, any moons orbiting this planet could be among the most promising nearby locations to search for life. Can we detect those moons by carefully monitoring the position of the planet? arxiv.org/abs/2509.13513
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We give this system 3 stars! ⭐⭐⭐ Webb revealed strong evidence of a giant gas planet orbiting one of the three stars (as shown in this artist illustration) in the Alpha Centauri system, located four light years away. go.nasa.gov/3Jmbopa
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From “Star Trek” Fan to Award-Winning Researcher: VSU’s Jordan Hewins Says Science Has the Power to Change Humanity. bit.ly/4cMb918 #VState #BlazerNation 🔥
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Some more bad news for the recently claimed six exomoons: arxiv.org/abs/2009.14723. Curious how the original paper got so much press but there's so far been no articles on the rebuttals...🤔
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Billy Quarles retweeted
Really nice paper by @saturnaxis which uses dynamics to assess the feasibility of exomoon candidates: arxiv.org/pdf/2009.14723.pdf Using tidal and migration constraints, they find that the 6 KOI signals previously ascribed to exomoons can't be explained by stable moons.
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Billy Quarles retweeted
@saturnaxis presents his new paper (arxiv.org/pdf/1912.11019.pdf) in which he performs a robust parameter space survey of where circumstellar planets can reside in systems with stellar binaries #DDA51
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Billy Quarles retweeted
Marialis Rosario Franco presents work with @saturnaxis in which she shows where within a planetary Hill sphere exomoons can reside, using candidate Kepler-1625b-I as an example. She found that exomoons are generally observationally detectable with a combination of methods #DDA51
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Billy Quarles retweeted
Karthik Yadavalli (who works with @astroplum at @GeorgiaTech) presents a great talk in which he describes how we can figure out how seasons change on circumbinary planets #DDA51
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The climate on an Earth twin orbiting Alpha Centauri B is especially vulnerable to large changes in obliquity, and a large moon doesn't help. @saturnaxis Original research on @AAS_Publishing. #scicomm #openscience thesciencebreaker.org/breaks…
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Turns out you sound way more interesting when a professional studio edits and animates it..can't say enough good things about the amazing people and talent at @thoughtcafe !
NEW VIDEO: Searching for Exoplanets, Searching for Life ft. @astrodantamayo 🌌🔭youtu.be/CoGJUCQvSQY
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Billy Quarles retweeted
Me every time I see someone call a 2.7 Earth Radius planet a “water world”
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Billy Quarles retweeted
📣Discovery Alert: Three planets ⚫️⚫️⚫️ are orbiting two suns⭐️🌟 in the Kepler-47 system. Astronomers discovered the third planet, a Neptune-to-Saturn-sized world lurking between the two previously known planets. go.nasa.gov/2GkNWER
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Billy Quarles retweeted
Discovery! 3rd Planet Found in Two-Star 'Tatooine' Star System dlvr.it/R2wjtH
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Billy Quarles retweeted
Astronomers discover third planet in the Kepler-47 circumbinary system @sdsu_newsteam @AAS_Publishing phys.org/news/2019-04-astron…
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.@saturnaxis : Looking at obliquity variations for Kepler-62f (a potentially habitable planet). With 5-planet system, obliquity variations can be fast, similar to Earth in magnitude or much larger. #DPS18
As part of camera commissioning, the #TESS science team snapped a two-second test exposure using one of the four @NASA_TESS cameras. A science-quality image, also referred to as a “first light” image, is expected to be released in June. Enjoy this preview! @TESSatMIT
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