The fact that some planetary orbits can be neatly aligned with the plane of their star's equator, whereas others are wildly misaligned, shows that we have much still to learn about the formation and orbital evolution of planets.» (creationscience.com)
Studying blueshifts or redshifts introduced in the stellar spectrum during the transit (the Rossiter - McLaughlin effect) can tell us if the exoplanet's orbit is misaligned with the star's rotational axis, which provides a key to understanding the exoplanet's formation and subsequent orbital evolution. (eos-nexus.org)
The vibrations of these rings mirror the actual planetary orbital evolution that unfolds over millions of years, making the approximation quite accurate. (caltech.edu)