Observations of Transiting Exoplanets
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Where Are the Distant Worlds? Star Maps
W here Are the Distant Worlds? Star Maps Abo ut the Activity Whe re are the distant worlds in the night sky? Use a star map to find constellations and to identify stars with extrasolar planets. (Northern Hemisphere only, naked eye) Topics Covered • How to find Constellations • Where we have found planets around other stars Participants Adults, teens, families with children 8 years and up If a school/youth group, 10 years and older 1 to 4 participants per map Materials Needed Location and Timing • Current month's Star Map for the Use this activity at a star party on a public (included) dark, clear night. Timing depends only • At least one set Planetary on how long you want to observe. Postcards with Key (included) • A small (red) flashlight • (Optional) Print list of Visible Stars with Planets (included) Included in This Packet Page Detailed Activity Description 2 Helpful Hints 4 Background Information 5 Planetary Postcards 7 Key Planetary Postcards 9 Star Maps 20 Visible Stars With Planets 33 © 2008 Astronomical Society of the Pacific www.astrosociety.org Copies for educational purposes are permitted. Additional astronomy activities can be found here: http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov Detailed Activity Description Leader’s Role Participants’ Roles (Anticipated) Introduction: To Ask: Who has heard that scientists have found planets around stars other than our own Sun? How many of these stars might you think have been found? Anyone ever see a star that has planets around it? (our own Sun, some may know of other stars) We can’t see the planets around other stars, but we can see the star. -
Space Missions for Exoplanet
Space missions for exoplanet January 3, 2020 Source: The Hindu Manifest pedagogy: As a part of science & technology and geography, questions related to space have been asked both at prelims and mains stage. Finding life in other celestial bodies had always been a human curiosity. Origin of the solar system, exoplanets as prospective resources zone, finding life etc are key objectives of NASA and other space programs. In news: European Space Agency (ESA) has launched CHEOPS exoplanet mission Placing it in syllabus: Exoplanet space missions Static dimensions: What are exoplanets? Current dimensions: Exoplanet missions by NASA Exoplanet missions by ESA and CHEOPS mission Content: What are Exoplanets? The worlds orbiting other stars are called “exoplanets”. They vary in sizes, from gas giants larger than Jupiter to small, rocky planets about as big around as Earth. They can be hot enough to boil metal or locked in deep freeze. They can orbit two suns at once. Some exoplanets are sunless, wandering through the galaxy in permanent darkness. The first exoplanet invented was 51 Pegasi b, a “hot Jupiter” in 1995 which is 50 light-years away that is locked in a four-day orbit around its star. ((The discoverers Didier Queloz and Michel Mayor of 51 Pegasi b shared the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics for their breakthrough finding)). And a system of three “pulsar planets” had been detected, beginning in 1992. The circumstellar habitable zone (CHZ) also called the Goldilocks zone is the range of orbits around a star within which a planetary surface can support liquid water given sufficient atmospheric pressure. -
Simulating (Sub)Millimeter Observations of Exoplanet Atmospheres in Search of Water
University of Groningen Kapteyn Astronomical Institute Simulating (Sub)Millimeter Observations of Exoplanet Atmospheres in Search of Water September 5, 2018 Author: N.O. Oberg Supervisor: Prof. Dr. F.F.S. van der Tak Abstract Context: Spectroscopic characterization of exoplanetary atmospheres is a field still in its in- fancy. The detection of molecular spectral features in the atmosphere of several hot-Jupiters and hot-Neptunes has led to the preliminary identification of atmospheric H2O. The Atacama Large Millimiter/Submillimeter Array is particularly well suited in the search for extraterrestrial water, considering its wavelength coverage, sensitivity, resolving power and spectral resolution. Aims: Our aim is to determine the detectability of various spectroscopic signatures of H2O in the (sub)millimeter by a range of current and future observatories and the suitability of (sub)millimeter astronomy for the detection and characterization of exoplanets. Methods: We have created an atmospheric modeling framework based on the HAPI radiative transfer code. We have generated planetary spectra in the (sub)millimeter regime, covering a wide variety of possible exoplanet properties and atmospheric compositions. We have set limits on the detectability of these spectral features and of the planets themselves with emphasis on ALMA. We estimate the capabilities required to study exoplanet atmospheres directly in the (sub)millimeter by using a custom sensitivity calculator. Results: Even trace abundances of atmospheric water vapor can cause high-contrast spectral ab- sorption features in (sub)millimeter transmission spectra of exoplanets, however stellar (sub) millime- ter brightness is insufficient for transit spectroscopy with modern instruments. Excess stellar (sub) millimeter emission due to activity is unlikely to significantly enhance the detectability of planets in transit except in select pre-main-sequence stars. -
New Front of Exoplanetary Science: High Dispersion Coronagraphy (HDC)
New Front of Exoplanetary Science: High Dispersion Coronagraphy (HDC) Ji Wang Caltech Transmission Spectroscopy Fischer et al. 2016 8/1/17 Knutson et al. 2007 Cloud and Haze Sing et al. 2011 Sing et al. 2016 Kreidberg et al. 2014 8/1/17 High Resolution Spectroscopy Wyttenbach et al. 2015 HD 189733b See also Khalafinejad et al. 2016 Atmospheric Composition From High- Resolution Spectroscopy HD 209458, Snellen et al. 2010 8/1/17 Planet Rotation – Beta Pic b Snellen et al. 2014 Dashed - Instrument Profile Solid – Measured Line Profile Doppler Imaging – Luhman 16 A & B DeViation from mean line profile Vs. time CCloud map of Lunman 16 B Luhman 16 B (Crossfield et al. 2014) Detection of H2O and CO on HR 8799 c Keck OSIRIS Konopacky et al. 2013 8/1/17 High Dispersion Coronagraphy Snellen et al. 2015 Keck NIRSPEC Keck NIRC2 Vortex 8/1/17 Keck Planet Imager and Characterizer PI: D. Mawet (Caltech) • Upgrade to Keck II AO and instrument suite: – L-band Vortex coronagraph in NIRC2 - deployed – IR PyWFS – funded (NSF) – SMF link to upgraded NIRSPEC (FIU) - funded (HSF & NSF) – High contrast FIU – seeking funding – MODIUS: New fiber-fed, Multi-Object Diffraction limited IR Ultra-high resolution (R~150k-200k) Spectrograph – design study encouraged by KSSC • Pathfinder to ELT planet imager exploring new high contrast imaging/spectroscopy instrument paradigms: – Decouple search and discoVery from characterization: specialized module/strategy for each task – New hybrid coronagraph designs: e.g. apodized vortex – Wavefront control: e.g. speckle nulling on SMF HDC Instruments • CRIRES • SPHERE + ESPRESSO • SCExAO + IRD • MagAO-X + RHEA • Keck Planet Imager and Characterizer (KPIC) Science cases for HDC • Planet detection and confirmation at moderate contrast from ground • Detecting molecular species in planet atmospheres • Measuring planet rotation • Measuring cloud map for brown dwarfs and exoplanets HDC Simulator Template Matching Mawet et al. -
Planets and Exoplanets
NASE Publications Planets and exoplanets Planets and exoplanets Rosa M. Ros, Hans Deeg International Astronomical Union, Technical University of Catalonia (Spain), Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias and University of La Laguna (Spain) Summary This workshop provides a series of activities to compare the many observed properties (such as size, distances, orbital speeds and escape velocities) of the planets in our Solar System. Each section provides context to various planetary data tables by providing demonstrations or calculations to contrast the properties of the planets, giving the students a concrete sense for what the data mean. At present, several methods are used to find exoplanets, more or less indirectly. It has been possible to detect nearly 4000 planets, and about 500 systems with multiple planets. Objetives - Understand what the numerical values in the Solar Sytem summary data table mean. - Understand the main characteristics of extrasolar planetary systems by comparing their properties to the orbital system of Jupiter and its Galilean satellites. The Solar System By creating scale models of the Solar System, the students will compare the different planetary parameters. To perform these activities, we will use the data in Table 1. Planets Diameter (km) Distance to Sun (km) Sun 1 392 000 Mercury 4 878 57.9 106 Venus 12 180 108.3 106 Earth 12 756 149.7 106 Marte 6 760 228.1 106 Jupiter 142 800 778.7 106 Saturn 120 000 1 430.1 106 Uranus 50 000 2 876.5 106 Neptune 49 000 4 506.6 106 Table 1: Data of the Solar System bodies In all cases, the main goal of the model is to make the data understandable. -
Extrasolar Planet Detection
Extrasolar Planet Detection 1 Introduction: As of February 20, 2013, 861 exoplanets—planets that orbit stars other than our own Sun—are known to exist. Additionally, at least 128 stars are known to have more than one planet in orbit about them: more than 100 Solar Systems. Recent results from the Kepler space mission have yielded an incredible 2,000 more candidate objects that await confirmation. In fact, the Kepler team has announced that it is confident we will, in the observations to come, find a planet like the Earth, orbiting a star like the Sun, by the end of this year! The first confirmed detection of an exoplanet about a solar-type star came in 19951 when the Swiss astronomers Mayor and Queloz announced the discovery of 51 Pegasi b: a planet like Jupiter, but found so close to its star that it only takes 4 days to complete one orbit. In the 15 years since the initial announcement, the discovery rate has accelerated, as well as the number of techniques used to find Unseen these planets, but the primary method for planet detection planet moves away from remains radial velocity measurements of their parent stars. It observer. is this method that we will explore, using actual data collected from astronomers at Lick Observatory in the San Francisco Star moves Bay Area. toward observer. Consider two objects: a star and its planet. While we Starlight is blue ordinarily say that a planet orbits its star, rather than the other shifted. way around, in reality both the star and the planet orbit about a common center of mass. -
A Search for Planetary Transits of the Star HD 187123 by Spot Filter CCD Differential Photometry
A Search for Planetary Transits of the Star HD 187123 by Spot Filter CCD Differential Photometry T. Castellano 1 NASA Ames Fl_esearch Center, MS 245-6, Moffett Field, CA 94035 tcastellano_mail.arc.nasa.gov Received ; accepted SubInitted to Publications of tile Astronomical Society of the Pacific _Also at Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 _ ABSTRACT A novel method for performing high precision, time series CCD differential photometry of bright stars using a spot filter, is demonstrated. Results for sev- eral nights of observing of tile 51 Pegasi b-type planet bearing star HD 187123 are presented. Photometric precision of 0.0015 - 0.0023 magnitudes is achieved. No transits are observed at the epochs predicted from the radial velocity obser- vations. If the planet orbiting HD 187123 at, 0.0415 AU is an inflated Jupiter similar in radius to HD 209458b it would have been detected at the > 6o level if tile orbital inclination is near 90 degrees and at the > 3or level if the orbital inclination is as small as 82.7 degrees. Subject headings: stars: planetary systems techniques:photometric 1. Introduction More than two dozen extrasolar planets have been discovered around nearby stars by measuring their Keplerian radial velocity Doppler shifts (see, for example, Marcy et al. (2000)). Two radial velocity teams recently discovered a planet orbiting tile star HD 209458 (Henry et al. 1999; Mazeh et al. 2000). The planet has M v sin i = 0.62 Mj (1 ._l.j = 1 Jupiter mass = 2 x 10 a° grams) and a = 0.046 AU, with an assumed eccentricity of zero but consistent with 0.04 (Henry et al. -
Atmospheric Mass Loss of Extrasolar Planets Orbiting Magnetically Active
MNRAS 000, 1–?? (2017) Preprint 8 August 2018 Compiled using MNRAS LATEX style file v3.0 Atmospheric mass loss of extrasolar planets orbiting magnetically active host stars Lalitha Sairam,1⋆ J. H. M. M. Schmitt,2 and Spandan Dash3 1Indian Institute of Astrophysics, II Block, Koramangala, Bangalore 560 034, India 2Hamburger Sternwarte, Gojenbergsweg 112, 21029 Hamburg 3Indian Institute of Science, C.V Raman Avenue, Yeshwantpur, Bangalore 560 012, India Accepted XXX. Received YYY; in original form ZZZ ABSTRACT Magnetic stellar activity of exoplanet hosts can lead to the production of large amounts of high-energy emission, which irradiates extrasolar planets, located in the immediate vicinity of such stars. This radiation is absorbed in the planets’ upper atmospheres, which consequently heat up and evaporate, possibly leading to an irradiation-induced mass-loss. We present a study of the high-energy emission in the four magnetically ac- tive planet-bearing host stars Kepler-63, Kepler-210, WASP-19, and HAT-P-11, based on new XMM-Newton observations. We find that the X-ray luminosities of these stars are rather high with orders of magnitude above the level of the active Sun. The total XUV irradiation of these planets is expected to be stronger than that of well stud- ied hot Jupiters. Using the estimated XUV luminosities as the energy input to the planetary atmospheres, we obtain upper limits for the total mass loss in these hot Jupiters. Key words: stars: activity – stars: coronae – stars: low-mass, late-type, planetary systems – stars: individual: Kepler-63, Kepler-210, WASP-19, HAT-P-11 1 INTRODUCTION through Jeans escape, the observations of atmospheric mass loss in HD 209458 b (Vidal-Madjar et al. -
Mass-Loss Rates for Transiting Exoplanets Energy Diagram Enable to Estimate the Observable Transit Signa- Ture of Evaporating Planets (E.G., Ehrenreich Et Al
Astronomy & Astrophysics manuscript no. massloss˙vA1 c ESO 2018 November 2, 2018 Mass-loss rates for transiting exoplanets D. Ehrenreich1 & J.-M. D´esert2 1 Institut de plan´etologie et d’astrophysique de Grenoble (IPAG), Universit´eJoseph Fourier-Grenoble 1, CNRS (UMR 5274), BP 53 38041 Grenoble CEDEX 9, France, e-mail: [email protected] 2 Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA, e-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT Exoplanets at small orbital distances from their host stars are submitted to intense levels of energetic radiations, X-rays and extreme ultraviolet (EUV). Depending on the masses and densities of the planets and on the atmospheric heating efficiencies, the stellar energetic inputs can lead to atmospheric mass loss. These evaporation processes are observable in the ultraviolet during planetary transits. The aim of the present work is to quantify the mass-loss rates (m ˙ ), heating efficiencies (η), and lifetimes for the whole sample of transiting exoplanets, now including hot jupiters, hot neptunes, and hot super-earths. The mass-loss rates and lifetimes are estimated from an “energy diagram” for exoplanets, which compares the planet gravitational potential energy to the stellar X/EUV energy deposited in the atmosphere. We estimate the mass-loss rates of all detected transiting planets to be within 106 to 1013 g s−1 for various conservative assumptions. High heating efficiencies would imply that hot exoplanets such the gas giants WASP-12b and WASP-17b could be completely evaporated within 1 Gyr. We further show that the heating efficiency can be constrained whenm ˙ is inferred from observations and the stellar X/EUV luminosity is known. -
Chemistry on Gliese 229B with Observed Abundance (Cf
Atmospheric Chemistry on Substellar Objects Channon Visscher Lunar and Planetary Institute, USRA UHCL Spring Seminar Series 2010 Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt Outline • introduction to substellar objects; recent discoveries – what can exoplanets tell us about the formation and evolution of planetary systems? • clouds and chemistry in substellar atmospheres – role of thermochemistry and disequilibrium processes • Jupiter’s bulk water inventory • chemical regimes on brown dwarfs and exoplanets • understanding the underlying physics and chemistry in substellar atmospheres is essential for guiding, interpreting, and explaining astronomical observations of these objects Methods of inquiry • telescopic observations (Hubble, Spitzer, Kepler, etc) • spacecraft exploration (Voyager, Galileo, Cassini, etc) • assume same physical principles apply throughout universe • allows the use of models to interpret observations A simple model; Ike vs. the Great Red Spot Field of study • stars: • sustained H fusion • spectral classes OBAFGKM • > 75 MJup (0.07 MSun) • substellar objects: • brown dwarfs (~750) • temporary D fusion • spectral classes L and T • 13 to 75 MJup • planets (~450) • no fusion • < 13 MJup Field of study • Sun (5800 K), M (3200-2300 K), L (2500-1400 K), T (1400-700 K), Jupiter (124 K) • upper atmospheres of substellar objects are cool enough for interesting chemistry! substellar objects Dr. Robert Hurt, Infrared Processing and Analysis Center Worlds without end… • prehistory: (Earth), Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn • 1400 BC: Mercury -
EPSC2013-44, 2013 European Planetary Science Congress 2013 Eeuropeapn Planetarsy Science Ccongress C Author(S) 2013
EPSC Abstracts Vol. 8, EPSC2013-44, 2013 European Planetary Science Congress 2013 EEuropeaPn PlanetarSy Science CCongress c Author(s) 2013 Probing hot Jupiter atmospheres with ground-based high-resolution spectroscopy H. Schwarz (1), M. Brogi (1), J. Birkby (1), R. de Kok (2),I. Snellen (1), E. de Mooij (3) and S. Albrecht (4) (1) Leiden Observatory, The Netherlands, (2) SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, The Netherlands, (3) University of Toronto, Canada, (4) Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA Abstract telluric and stellar lines and providing a direct way of determining the orbital velocity and inclination of the We present recent results from high-resolution spec- planet. troscopy of bright transiting and non-transiting hot The method works for both transmission and day- Jupiters, including preliminary results for the day-side side spectroscopy, with the latter being applicable to of HD 209458 b. Using the CRyogenic InfraRed both transiting and non-transiting planets. For the first Echelle Spectrograph at the VLT, we have detected un- time, characterisation of non-transiting planets has be- ambiguous signals of carbon monoxide in the plane- come possible. tary atmospheres through the use of novel data analy- sis techniques. The method has proven successful for both trans- mission spectroscopy of HD 209458 b [4], day-side spectroscopy of HD 189733 b [3] and day-side spec- troscopy of the non-transiting planet Tau Bootis b [1]. Furthermore, the non-transiting planet 51 Pegasi b shows a promising combined signal from CO and H2O [2]. These detections can also provide the absolute planet mass, orbital velocity, inclination, and informa- tion about the temperature-pressure profile of the plan- etary atmosphere. -
From ESPRESSO to PLATO: Detecting and Characterizing Earth-Like Planets in the Presence of Stellar Noise
From ESPRESSO to PLATO: detecting and characterizing Earth-like planets in the presence of stellar noise Tese de Doutouramento Luisa Maria Serrano Departamento de Fisica e Astronomia do Porto, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto Orientador: Nuno Cardoso Santos, Co-Orientadora: Susana Cristina Cabral Barros March 2020 Dedication This Ph.D. thesis is the result of 4 years of work, stress, anxiety, but, over all, fun, curiosity and desire of exploring the most hidden scientific discoveries deserved by Astrophysics. Working in Exoplanets was the beginning of the realization of a life-lasting dream, it has allowed me to enter an extremely active and productive group. For this reason my thanks go, first of all, to the ’boss’ and my Ph.D. supervisor, Nuno Santos. He allowed me to be here and introduced me in this world, a distant mirage for the master student from a university where there was no exoplanets thematic line. I also have to thank him for his humanity, not a common quality among professors. The second thank goes to Susana, who was always there for me when I had issues, not necessarily scientific ones. I finally have to thank Mahmoud; heis not listed as supervisor here, but he guided me, teaching me how to do research and giving me precious life lessons, which made me growing. There is also a long series of people I am thankful to, for rendering this years extremely interesting and sustaining me in the deepest moments. My first thought goes to my parents: they were thousands of kilometers far away from me, though they never left me alone and they listened to my complaints, joy, sadness...everything.