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Ruth Murray-Clay

Publications and source records attributed to Ruth Murray-Clay.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

Quantitative Links between Formation and Atmospheric Composition for Giant Planets

Precise atmospheric abundances of giant exoplanets are becoming increasingly prevalent and there is a need to systematically convert these measurements into metrics that inform us about the planets' accretion history. We present a quantitative framework for relating atmospheric composition to the accretion of metals and primordial gas. This includes i) new relations that simplify and generalize the connection between atmospheric metallicity and metal mass fraction, ii) methods for inferring the source of the metals and quantifying the quantity of metals accreted via different sources, and iii) relating the derived quantities to expectations from formation models. We also derive a new estimate of the minimum disk mass needed to form a planetary system based on the amount of excess metals accreted by a planet, assuming that this excess originates from the drift and evaporation of pebbles at condensation fronts. This paper is accompanied by an open-source code that implements the methods presented herein.

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arXiv2026

A Sulfur-Rich Atmosphere for the Young Jupiter Analog AF Lep b Reveals Significant Solid Accretion

AF Lep b is one of the closest analogs to Jupiter in terms of mass ($3-4~M_{\rm{Jup}}$) and semi-major axis ($9$ AU) amenable to spectroscopic characterization. We present JWST/NIRSpec high-contrast spectroscopy of the planet from $2.85-5.3~\mu$m at $R\sim3000$, which provide detections of CO$_2$, H$_2$S, CH$_4$, $^{12}$CO (and $^{13}$CO), and H$_2$O, as well as complementary JWST/NIRCam imaging that captures the planet's continuum flux from $4.0-4.7~\mu$m. Combining the JWST observations with spectra from VLTI/GRAVITY and VLT/SPHERE ($1.0-2.5~\mu$m), we carry out atmospheric retrievals that include the effects of clouds and disequilibrium chemistry while allowing the C, O, and S abundances to vary independently. AF Lep b exhibits metal enrichment across C, O, and S with $\rm C/H=2.9\pm0.5$, $\rm O/H=3.7\pm0.6$, and $\rm S/H=4.7\pm0.7~\times$ solar (and stellar). The planet's slightly sub-solar C/O and C/S are consistent with formation near its observed location, and disfavor formation beyond the CO snowline. The sulfur enrichment in AF Lep b implies significant accretion of disk solids during formation, and we estimate the planet contains $56\pm7~M_{\oplus}$ of solids. The C, O, and S enrichment levels of AF Lep b are similar to those of Jupiter, and other super-Jupiters like HR 8799 bcde. We also show that the degree of atmospheric metal enrichment of these imaged planets is similar to the bulk metal enrichment of transiting gas giants with masses greater than $\sim1~M_{\rm{Jup}}$, suggesting that the process and efficiency of metal accretion for gas giants may not be strongly dependent on orbital distance or planet mass.

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arXiv2026

An Inclined, Eccentric Planet and an Inner Debris Disk Could Reproduce AU Mic Structure

The debris disk orbiting the M star AU Microscopii has a series of large-scale clumps that move away from the star at high velocities above the mid-plane on the southeast side. Two more bright features lie on the northwest side of the disk, localized below the mid-plane and moving toward the star. These clumps are only observed in scattered light indicating that they affect small 0.2$\mu$m-sized grains. We present a mechanism for emitting periodic dust clumps by appealing to stellar forces and an inclined, eccentric planet interacting with an exterior debris disk. In our best-matching simulations, the planet exerts an impulse on the disk every orbital period, generating periodic enhancements in dust above the mid-plane. We assume that the stellar wind only acts on grains once they reach a height above the mid-planet that exceeds a threshold value (a free parameter in our model), at which point they are accelerated outward. The behavior of periodic particle ejections and trajectories depends significantly on the planet's mass, eccentricity, and inclination; separation between the planet and disk; and the ratio of stellar wind force to the star's gravitational force ($\beta$). We find a promising qualitative match to observations with simulations that include an as-yet-undiscovered and observationally allowed planet with mass $2 M_J$, semi-major axis between 3-4 au, eccentricity of 0.37, and inclination of 30$^\circ$, a ring of particles between 5-6 au, and a stellar wind height threshold of $z_h = hr$, where $h \approx 0.02$. We visualize our simulation with surface brightness maps to compare with existing observations of AU Mic. We find that a value of $\beta \approx 1.8$ accelerates the clumps radially outward at velocities that are comparable to the clumps seen in the AU Mic disk and produces features similar to those observed.

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arXiv2026

Planet-Planet Scattering Explains the Mass-Eccentricity Relation of Warm Jupiters

Warm giant planets with orbital periods of tens of days exhibit a positive correlation between mass and eccentricity. We interpret this trend as the outcome of planet-planet scattering, representing a transition from collision-dominated interactions among low-mass planets to ejection-dominated interactions among high-mass planets. This framework has important implications for warm Jupiter origins. It suggests that warm Jupiters originate from compact, multi-planet configurations. The dynamical interactions that shape their present-day architectures likely occur near their current semimajor axes, regardless of whether warm Jupiters formed through convergent disk-driven migration or in-situ formation. We argue that several observed properties of warm Jupiter systems, including the eccentricity bimodality, the mass-eccentricity relation, and generally low stellar obliquities, can be explained by this picture. We further predict that not only circular warm Jupiters, but also eccentric warm Jupiters, should frequently have additional planetary companions that are detectable through radial velocity observations. Finally, scattering can produce eccentricities high enough to trigger high-eccentricity tidal migration, potentially explaining the emerging population of proto-hot Jupiters on tidal migration tracks.

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arXiv2026

Observational Signatures of Circumstellar Gas Tori Formed by Planetary Mass-Loss from Close-In Exoplanets

Close-in exoplanets with H/He atmospheres often undergo hydrodynamic escape. In extreme cases, it is hypothesized that the mass loss can be high enough for the escaping planetary material to wrap around the star, forming a long-lasting circumstellar torus. In this work, we develop a physical model of such circumstellar tori and use a ray tracing scheme to calculate the attenuation of stellar light passing through them. We show that the presence of a circumstellar torus significantly increases the equivalent width of the observed stellar He I 10830~\AA~line. When combined with observations of the star's Ca II H & K lines, these systems can typically be distinguished from field stars. Based on these results, we propose a survey of stars hosting close-in planets, combining observations of the He I 10830~\AA~and Ca II H & K lines to search for circumstellar tori generated from planetary mass-loss in these systems.

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arXiv2026

Evidence for a Peak at $\sim$0.3 in the Eccentricity Distribution of Typical Super-Jovian Exoplanets

In this study, we compute completeness-corrected occurrence rates of giant exoplanets as a function of mass, semimajor axis, and eccentricity, using the approximately uniform California Legacy Survey sample of RV-discovered planets published in Rosenthal et al. 2021. We recover the previously-detected rise in occurrence with semimajor axis for both lower- and higher-mass subsets of the population out to $\sim$5 au. When restricting to planets with semimajor axes between 0.1 and 4.5 au (roughly speaking, the "peak" of giant planet occurrence), we find evidence for distinct eccentricity distributions for each of two mass sub-populations. Most strikingly, we observe a peak in the eccentricity distribution of super-Jovian planets (3-20~M$_{\rm J}$) at 0.3, which is apparent using two different parameterizations of the eccentricity distribution model. A hierarchical histogram model reveals that $\sim$92% of posterior samples indicate an elevated occurrence rate of super-Jupiters with modest eccentricities (0.2-0.4) compared to lower or higher eccentricities (i.e. evidence for a moderate eccentricity "peak"), and 99% of samples indicate super-Jupiters with modest eccentricities are more common than those with lower eccentricities (i.e. evidence that moderate eccentricities are more common than low eccentricities). We use a truncated Gaussian model fit to pinpoint the location of the super-Jupiter eccentricity peak with more precision, finding a maximum a posterior (MAP) peak location of $e=0.3$. This low but elevated characteristic eccentricity could be the result of dynamically hot histories, perhaps involving a giant impacts phase. All analysis code for this project is publicly available on Zenodo (https://zenodo.org/records/18089157) and GitHub (github.com/sblunt/eccentricities).

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arXiv2025

The Exospace Weather Frontier

Space weather is among the most powerful and least understood forces shaping planetary atmospheres. In our Solar System, we observe its effects directly: atmospheric escape, chemical disruption, and spectacular auroral displays. Yet for exoplanets, we lack the tools and data to comprehensively assess the impacts of space weather, especially invisible elements like stellar winds, coronal mass ejections, energetic particles, and variable interplanetary magnetic fields. This problem lies at the intersection of four key fields: heliophysics, planetary science, astrobiology, and astrophysics. In 2023--2025, experts from these four fields convened at the W. M. Keck Institute for Space Studies to explore pathways for advancing the study of exospace weather. Organizing the subject into five core themes -- planets and their stellar particle environments, stellar magnetism and space weather modeling, quasi-steady stellar winds, transient events, and programmatic pathways -- our team synthesized concepts from across relevant fields and identified a wide array of opportunities for progress. This report is the product of that effort. It assembles cross-disciplinary knowledge; highlights outstanding theoretical challenges; explores promising innovations in observation, modeling, methodology, and instrumentation; and makes recommendations for accelerating community-wide progress. Together, these lay out a path to transforming the challenging, yet tractable problem of exospace weather into a foundational element of our understanding exoplanetary systems, and our own Solar System, in their entirety.

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arXiv2025

Wind-AE: A Fast, Open-source 1D Photoevaporation Code with Metal and Multi-frequency X-ray Capabilities

Throughout their lives, short period exoplanets (<100 days) experience X-ray and extreme-UV (XUV) stellar irradiation that can heat and photoionize planets' upper atmospheres, driving transonic outflows. This photoevaporative mass loss plays a role in both evolution and observed demographics; however, mass loss rates are not currently directly observable and can only be inferred from models. To that end, we present an open-source fast 1D, XUV multi-frequency, multispecies, steady-state, hydrodynamic Parker Wind photoevaporation relaxation model based on Murray-Clay et al. (2009,arXiv:0811.0006). The model can move smoothly between high and low flux regimes and accepts custom multi-frequency stellar spectra. While the inclusion of high-energy X-rays increases mass loss rates ($\dot{M}$), metals decrease $\dot{M}$, and the net result for a typical hot Jupiter is a similar $\dot{M}$, but a hotter, faster, and more gradually ionized wind. We find that mulitfrequency photons (e.g., 13.6-2000eV) are absorbed over a broader range of heights in the atmosphere resulting in a wind-launch radius, $R_{XUV}$, that is of order 10 nanobars for all but the highest surface gravity planets. Grids of H/He solar metallicity atmospheres reveal that, for typical hot Jupiters like HD 209458b, $R_{XUV}$~1.1-1.8$R_P$ for low-fluxes, meaning that the energy-limited mass loss rate, $\dot{M}_{Elim}(R)$, computed at $R=R_P$ is a good approximation. However, for planets with low escape velocities, like many sub-Neptunes and super-Earths, $R_{XUV}$ can be >>$R_P$, making it necessary to use $\dot{M}_{Elim}(R=R_{XUV})$ to avoid significantly underestimating mass loss rates. For both high escape velocities and large incident fluxes, radiative cooling is significant and energy-limited mass loss overestimates $\dot{M}$.

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arXiv2025

Understanding the Origins of Super-Puff Planets: A New Mass-Loss Regime Coupled to Planetary Evolution

Super-puffs are a class of low-mass, large-radius planets that have challenged planet formation and evolution models. Their high inferred H/He mass fractions, required to explain their physical sizes, would lead to rapid atmospheric escape, raising questions about their long-term retention. Recent modeling work indicates that low-mass planets typically require 50\% less H/He mass to match their observed radius, due to significant roles of the radiative atmosphere and interior heating from the rock/iron core. Here, through a new quantitative analysis of XUV-driven escape in sub-Neptunes, we find that previous studies overestimated mass loss, as scaling laws in low-gravity regimes deviate greatly from the widely used energy-limited regime. We define a new regime, thermal-energy-mediated photoevaporation (TEMP), in which thermal energy conversion critically sets the mass-loss rate. These effects make super-puffs more resilient to mass loss than previously thought. We develop a coupled evolution model integrating this updated thermal evolution framework with a 1D hydrodynamic photoevaporation model. Applying this novel, joint model to observed super-puffs and young low-density planets, we find that their masses, radii and transit pressures align with predictions assuming either a clear or hazy atmosphere. This indicates that super-puffs have undergone a combination of boil-off and photoevaporative mass loss, with boil-off dominating the process. Our results indicate that low-density planets typically possess both a thick convective envelope and substantial radiative atmosphere, which contribute to their large radii. For this to occur, these planets must have intermediate masses of 5-10$M_\oplus$ and receive stellar insolation $\lesssim 30F_\oplus$, favoring FG-type stars over M-dwarfs.

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arXiv2025

Revising the Giant Planet Mass-Metallicity Relation: Deciphering the Formation Sequence of Giant Planets

The rate at which giant planets accumulate solids and gas is a critical component of planet formation models, yet it is extremely challenging to predict from first principles. Characterizing the heavy element (everything other than hydrogen and helium) content of giant planets provides important clues about their provenance. Using thermal evolution models with updated H-He EOS and atmospheric boundary condition that varies with envelope metallicity, we quantify the bulk heavy element content of 147 warm ($< 1000$ K) giant planets with well-measured masses and radii, more than tripling the sample size studied in Thorngren et al. 2016. These measurements reveal that the population's heavy element mass follows the relation $M_{\rm Z} = M_{\rm core} + f_Z (M_{\rm p} - M_{\rm core})$, with $M_{\rm core} = 14.7^{+1.8}_{-1.6}$ Earth masses (M$_\oplus$), $f_Z = 0.09 \pm 0.01$, and an astrophysical scatter of $0.66 \pm 0.08 \times M_Z$. The classical core-accretion scenario ($Z_{\rm p} = 1$ at 10 M$_\oplus$ and $Z_{\rm p} = 0.5$ at 20 M$_\oplus$) is inconsistent with the population. At low planet masses ($<< 150$ M$_\oplus$), $M_{\rm Z} \sim M_{\rm core}$ and as a result, $Z_{\rm p} = M_{\rm Z} / M_{\rm p}$ declines linearly with $M_{\rm p}$. However, bulk metallicity does not continue to decline with planet mass and instead flattens out at $f_Z \sim 0.09$ ($\sim 7 \times$ solar metallicity). When normalized by stellar metallicity, $Z_{\rm p} / Z_\star$ flattens out at $3.3 \pm 0.5$ at high planet masses. This explicitly shows that giant planets continue to accrete material enriched in heavy elements during the gas accretion phase.

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arXiv2025

LiDO: Discovery of a 10:1 Resonator with a Novel Libration State

The Large inclination Distant Objects LiDO survey has discovered the first securely classified object in the 10:1 mean motion resonance of Neptune. This object, 2020 VN40, is short-term stable in the 10:1 resonance, but not stable on Gyr timescales. 2020 VN40 is likely part of the scattering sticking population, and temporarily resides in the 10:1 resonance at ~139.5 au. This discovery confirms that this distant resonance is populated, as a single detection is likely to be indicative of a large population that is difficult to detect due to observational biases. This object has an inclination of 33.4 degrees, and n-body integrations of orbital clones of 2020 VN40 have revealed some unexpected evolutions. While clones of 2020 VN40 show resonant libration around the expected resonance centers of approximately 90, 180, and 270 degrees, for a restricted range of inclination and eccentricity values some clones librate around a resonant argument of 0 degrees. As this occurs for the slightly lower-eccentricity portions of the evolution, this behavior can also be quite stable. Our initial exploration suggests that this libration around a center of 0 degrees is a generic effect for highly inclined objects in n:1 resonances because the nature of their resonant interaction with Neptune becomes a strong function of their argument of pericenter, omega. At large inclination, the resonant islands shift as omega precesses, switching the center of symmetric libration to 0 degrees for omega=90 degrees and omega=270 degrees. 2020 VN40 provides interesting insight into the evolution of the large-inclination resonators, which become more common at increasing semi-major axis.

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arXiv2025

Evolution of the ZTF SLRN-2020 star-planet merger

We model the optical and infrared transient ZTF SLRN-2020, previously associated with a star-planet merger. We consider the scenario in which orbital decay via tidal dissipation led to the merger, and find that tidal heating within the star was likely unobservable in the archival image of the system taken $12\mathrm{yr}$ before the merger. The observed dust formation months before the merger is consistent with a planet of mass $M_\mathrm{p} \gtrsim 5M_\mathrm{J}$ ejecting material as it skims the stellar surface. This interaction gradually intensifies, leading to significant mass ejection on a dynamical timescale ($ \approx $ hours) as the planet plunges into the stellar interior. Part of the recombination transient associated with this dynamical mass ejection might be inaccessible to the optical observations because its duration ($ \approx $ hours) is comparable to the cadence. Correspondingly, the observed duration of the transient $\approx100\mathrm{d}$ is inconsistent with a single episode of dynamical mass ejection. Instead, the transient could be powered by the recombination of $ \approx 3.4\times10^{-5}M_\odot $ of hydrogen in an outflow, or the contraction of an inflated envelope of mass $ \approx 10^{-6}M_\odot $ that formed during the merger. The observed ejecta mass $320\mathrm{d}$ after the peak of the optical transient is $ \approx 1.3\times10^{-4}M_\odot$, consistent with the idea that a fraction of the ejecta might be unobservable in the light curve. Energetically, this post-merger ejecta mass suggests a planet at least as massive as Jupiter. Our results suggest that ZTF SLRN-2020 was the result of a merger between a star close to the main sequence and a planet with mass at least several times that of Jupiter.

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arXiv2024

Reassessing Sub-Neptune Structure, Radii, and Thermal Evolution

We present a novel python-based 1D sub-Neptune evolution model that emphasizes the thermal evolution and potential solidification of the rock/iron core and the structure of the radiative atmosphere. This model explores planetary structure from the molten center to nbar pressure levels. Treating the radiative atmosphere is crucial for sub-Neptunes, due to the large scale height and low gravity, which contributes up to 40\% of their observed radius, especially for low-mass, highly irradiated planets. Consequently, we generically find that lower H/He mass fractions are needed to match a given planetary radius, compared to previous work. While the presence of metal-enrichment in the H/He layers (here modeled as 50$\times$ solar) does not substantially influence the size of the convective envelope, it notably reduces the transit radius by shrinking the radiative atmospheric scale height. Sub-Neptunes cool differently from terrestrial planets, with the rock/iron core's cooling rate limited by the envelope, leading to longer solidification timescales. Complete solidification of the silicate mantle by 10 Gyr is found only for planets with very low masses ($\leq 1M_\oplus$) and small H/He envelopes ($\leq$ 0.1\%). Dynamo action in sub-Neptune iron cores persists as long as the mantle surface remains molten, often exceeding 10 Gyr, and becomes sensitive to core thermal conductivity after solidification. We examine aspects of ''boil-off,'' which sets the maximum allowed H/He mass and planetary radius for subsequent evolution. The rock/iron's cooling energy moderately decreases the post-boil-off H/He mass fraction in planets with large atmospheric scale heights only.

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arXiv2024

Forcing Planets to Evolve: Interactions Between Uranus and Neptune at Late Stages of Dynamical Evolution

In early Solar System numerical simulations, where chaos is a primary driver, it is difficult to explore parameter space in a systematic way. In such simulations, stable configurations are hard to come by, and often require special fine-tuning. In addition, it is infeasible to run suites of well-resolved, realistic simulations with a disk of massive particles to drive planetary evolution where enough particles remain to represent the transneptunian populations to robustly statistically compare with observations. To complement state of the art full N-body simulations, we develop a method to artificially control each planet's orbital elements independently from each other, which when carefully applied, can be used to test a wider suite of models. We modify two widely used publicly available N-body integrators: (1) the C code, \texttt{REBOUND} and (2) the FORTRAN code, \texttt{Mercury6.2}. We show how the application of specific fictitious forces within numerical integrators can be used to tightly control planetary evolution to more easily explore migration and orbital excitation and damping. This tool allows us to replicate the impact a massive planetesimal disk would have on the planets, without actually including the massive planetesimals, thus decreasing the chaos and simulation runtime. We demonstrate the utility of this tool by applying it to the coupled orbital evolution of Uranus and Neptune, and show that Neptune's eccentricity damping and radial outward migration have the appropriate affect on Uranus' eccentricity.

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arXiv2024

Assessing Core-Powered Mass Loss in the Context of Early Boil-Off: Minimal Long-Lived Mass Loss for the Sub-Neptune Population

We develop a python-based state-of-the-art sub-Neptune evolution model that incorporates both the post-formation boil-off at young ages $\leq$ 1 Myr and long-lived core-powered mass loss ($\sim$ Gyrs) from interior cooling. We investigate the roles of initial H/He entropy, core luminosity, energy advection, radiative atmospheric structure, and the transition to an XUV-driven mass-loss phase, with an eye on relevant timescales for planetary mass loss and thermal evolution. With particular attention to the re-equilibration process of the H/He envelope, including the energy sources that fuel the hydrodynamic wind, and energy transport timescales, we find boil-off and core-powered escape are primarily driven by stellar bolometric radiation. We further find that both boil-off and core-powered escape are decoupled from the thermal evolution. We show that, with a boil-off phase that accounts for the initial H/He mass fraction and initial entropy, post-boil-off core-powered escape has an insignificant influence on the demographics of small planets, as it is only able to remove at most 0.1% of the H/He mass fraction. Our numerical results are directly compared to previous work on analytical core-powered mass loss modeling for individual evolutionary trajectories and populations of small planets. We examine a number of assumptions made in previous studies that cause significant differences compared to our findings. We find that boil-off, though able to completely strip the gaseous envelope from a highly irradiated ($F \geq 100 F_\oplus$) planet that has a low-mass core ($M_c \leq 4M_\oplus$), cannot by itself form a pronounced radius gap as is seen in the observed population.

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arXiv2024

Extensive Pollution of Uranus and Neptune's Atmospheres by Upsweep of Icy Material During the Nice Model Migration

In the Nice model of solar system formation, Uranus and Neptune undergo an orbital upheaval, sweeping through a planetesimal disk. The region of the disk from which material is accreted by the ice giants during this phase of their evolution has not previously been identified. We perform direct N-body orbital simulations of the four giant planets to determine the amount and origin of solid accretion during this orbital upheaval. We find that the ice giants undergo an extreme bombardment event, with collision rates as much as ~3 per hour assuming km-sized planetesimals, increasing the total planet mass by up to ~0.35%. In all cases, the initially outermost ice giant experiences the largest total enhancement. We determine that for some plausible planetesimal properties, the resulting atmospheric enrichment could potentially produce sufficient latent heat to alter the planetary cooling timescale according to existing models. Our findings suggest that substantial accretion during this phase of planetary evolution may have been sufficient to impact the atmospheric composition and thermal evolution of the ice giants, motivating future work on the fate of deposited solid material.

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arXiv2024

Randomness and Retention: Using Weak Mean Motion Resonances to Constrain Neptune's Late-Stage Migration

Planet-planetesimal interactions cause a planet to migrate, manifesting as a random walk in semi-major axis. In models for Neptune's migration involving a gravitational upheaval, this planetesimal-driven migration is a side-effect of the dynamical friction required to damp Neptune's orbital eccentricitiy. This migration is noisy, potentially causing Trans Neptunian Objects (TNOs) in mean motion resonance to be lost. With Nbody simulations, we validate a previously-derived analytic model for resonance retention and determine unknown coefficients. We identify the impact of random-walk (noisy) migration on resonance retention for resonances up to fourth order lying between 39 au and 75 au. Using a population estimate for the weak 7:3 resonance from the well-characterized Outer Solar System Origins Survey (OSSOS), we rule out two cases: (1) a planetesimal disk distributed between 13.3 and 39.9 au with $\gtrsim$ 30 Earth masses in today's size distribution and $T_{\rm mig} \gtrsim$ 40Myr and (2) a top-heavy size distribution with $\gtrsim$ 2000 Pluto-sized TNOs and $T_{\rm mig} \gtrsim$ 10Myr, where $T_{\rm mig}$ is Neptune's migration timescale. We find that low-eccentricity TNOs in the heavily populated 5:2 resonance are easily lost due to noisy migration. Improved observations of the low-eccentricity region of the 5:2 resonance and of weak mean motion resonances with Rubin Observatory's Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) will provide better population estimates, allowing for comparison with our model's retention fractions and providing strong evidence for or against Neptune's random interactions with planetesimals.

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arXiv2024

In Violation of the Prime Directive: Simulating detriments to Delta-Quadrant civilizations from the starship Voyager's impact on planetary rings

In the seven years that the starship Voyager spent in the Delta Quadrant, it used many questionable techniques to engage with alien civilizations and ultimately find its way home. From detailed studies of their logs and opening credits, we simulate Voyager's practice of orbiting a planet, to examine the effect on planetary rings. We outline a feasible planetary system and simulate the extent to which its rings would be disrupted. We find that Voyager's orbit could inflate the height of the rings in the vicinity of the spacecraft by a factor of 2, as well as increase the relative speeds of neighboring planetesimals within the rings. This increase in ring thickness has the potential to alter shadows on any moons of this planet, impacting ring-shadow based religions. Additionally, the acceleration of these planetesimals could rival their gravity, bucking any alien inhabitants and their tiny civilizations off of their planetesimal homeworlds. Finally, we posit that due to increased collisions amongst the planetesimals (which may harbor tiny intelligent life) the trajectory of these civilizations may be forever altered, violating the prime directive.

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