Benjamin James (BJ) Fulton
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Lurking in the Shadows: Wide-Separation Gas Giants As Tracers of Planet Formation
Lurking in the Shadows: Wide-Separation Gas Giants as Tracers of Planet Formation Thesis by Marta Levesque Bryan In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Pasadena, California 2018 Defended May 1, 2018 ii © 2018 Marta Levesque Bryan ORCID: [0000-0002-6076-5967] All rights reserved iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost I would like to thank Heather Knutson, who I had the great privilege of working with as my thesis advisor. Her encouragement, guidance, and perspective helped me navigate many a challenging problem, and my conversations with her were a consistent source of positivity and learning throughout my time at Caltech. I leave graduate school a better scientist and person for having her as a role model. Heather fostered a wonderfully positive and supportive environment for her students, giving us the space to explore and grow - I could not have asked for a better advisor or research experience. I would also like to thank Konstantin Batygin for enthusiastic and illuminating discussions that always left me more excited to explore the result at hand. Thank you as well to Dimitri Mawet for providing both expertise and contagious optimism for some of my latest direct imaging endeavors. Thank you to the rest of my thesis committee, namely Geoff Blake, Evan Kirby, and Chuck Steidel for their support, helpful conversations, and insightful questions. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to collaborate with Brendan Bowler. His talk at Caltech my second year of graduate school introduced me to an unexpected population of massive wide-separation planetary-mass companions, and lead to a long-running collaboration from which several of my thesis projects were born. -
Naming the Extrasolar Planets
Naming the extrasolar planets W. Lyra Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, K¨onigstuhl 17, 69177, Heidelberg, Germany [email protected] Abstract and OGLE-TR-182 b, which does not help educators convey the message that these planets are quite similar to Jupiter. Extrasolar planets are not named and are referred to only In stark contrast, the sentence“planet Apollo is a gas giant by their assigned scientific designation. The reason given like Jupiter” is heavily - yet invisibly - coated with Coper- by the IAU to not name the planets is that it is consid- nicanism. ered impractical as planets are expected to be common. I One reason given by the IAU for not considering naming advance some reasons as to why this logic is flawed, and sug- the extrasolar planets is that it is a task deemed impractical. gest names for the 403 extrasolar planet candidates known One source is quoted as having said “if planets are found to as of Oct 2009. The names follow a scheme of association occur very frequently in the Universe, a system of individual with the constellation that the host star pertains to, and names for planets might well rapidly be found equally im- therefore are mostly drawn from Roman-Greek mythology. practicable as it is for stars, as planet discoveries progress.” Other mythologies may also be used given that a suitable 1. This leads to a second argument. It is indeed impractical association is established. to name all stars. But some stars are named nonetheless. In fact, all other classes of astronomical bodies are named. -
Optical and Near-Infrared Observations of SN 2011Dh-The First 100 Days
Astronomy & Astrophysics manuscript no. sn2011dh-astro-ph-v2 c ESO 2018 November 4, 2018 Optical and near-infrared observations of SN 2011dh - The first 100 days. M. Ergon1, J. Sollerman1, M. Fraser2, A. Pastorello3, S. Taubenberger4, N. Elias-Rosa5, M. Bersten6, A. Jerkstrand2, S. Benetti3, M.T. Botticella7, C. Fransson1, A. Harutyunyan8, R. Kotak2, S. Smartt2, S. Valenti3, F. Bufano9; 10, E. Cappellaro3, M. Fiaschi3, A. Howell11, E. Kankare12, L. Magill2; 13, S. Mattila12, J. Maund2, R. Naves14, P. Ochner3, J. Ruiz15, K. Smith2, L. Tomasella3, and M. Turatto3 1 The Oskar Klein Centre, Department of Astronomy, AlbaNova, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden 2 Astrophysics Research Center, School of Mathematics and Physics, Queens University Belfast, Belfast, BT7 1NN, UK 3 INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, vicolo dell’Osservatorio n. 5, 35122 Padua, Italy 4 Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 1, D-85741 Garching, Germany 5 Institut de Ciències de l’Espai (IEEC-CSIC), Facultat de Ciències, Campus UAB, E-08193 Bellaterra, Spain. 6 Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (WPI), Todai Institutes for Advanced Study, University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8583, Japan 7 INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, Salita Moiariello, 16 80131 Napoli, Italy 8 Fundación Galileo Galilei-INAF, Telescopio Nazionale Galileo, Rambla José Ana Fernández Pérez 7, 38712 Breña Baja, TF - Spain 9 INAF, Osservatorio Astrofisico di Catania, Via Santa Sofia, I-95123, Catania, Italy 10 Departamento de Ciencias Fisicas, Universidad Andres Bello, Av. Republica 252, Santiago, Chile 11 Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network, 6740 Cortona Dr., Suite 102, Goleta, CA 93117 12 Finnish Centre for Astronomy with ESO (FINCA), University of Turku, Väisäläntie 20, FI-21500 Piikkiö, Finland 13 Isaac Newton Group, Apartado 321, E-38700 Santa Cruz de La Palma, Spain 14 Observatorio Montcabrer, C Jaume Balmes 24, Cabrils, Spain 15 Observatorio de Cántabria, Ctra. -
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A&A 562, A92 (2014) Astronomy DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/201321493 & c ESO 2014 Astrophysics Li depletion in solar analogues with exoplanets Extending the sample, E. Delgado Mena1,G.Israelian2,3, J. I. González Hernández2,3,S.G.Sousa1,2,4, A. Mortier1,4,N.C.Santos1,4, V. Zh. Adibekyan1, J. Fernandes5, R. Rebolo2,3,6,S.Udry7, and M. Mayor7 1 Centro de Astrofísica, Universidade do Porto, Rua das Estrelas, 4150-762 Porto, Portugal e-mail: [email protected] 2 Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, C/ Via Lactea s/n, 38200 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain 3 Departamento de Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna, 38205 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain 4 Departamento de Física e Astronomia, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal 5 CGUC, Department of Mathematics and Astronomical Observatory, University of Coimbra, 3049 Coimbra, Portugal 6 Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, CSIC, Spain 7 Observatoire de Genève, Université de Genève, 51 ch. des Maillettes, 1290 Sauverny, Switzerland Received 18 March 2013 / Accepted 25 November 2013 ABSTRACT Aims. We want to study the effects of the formation of planets and planetary systems on the atmospheric Li abundance of planet host stars. Methods. In this work we present new determinations of lithium abundances for 326 main sequence stars with and without planets in the Teff range 5600–5900 K. The 277 stars come from the HARPS sample, the remaining targets were observed with a variety of high-resolution spectrographs. Results. We confirm significant differences in the Li distribution of solar twins (Teff = T ± 80 K, log g = log g ± 0.2and[Fe/H] = [Fe/H] ±0.2): the full sample of planet host stars (22) shows Li average values lower than “single” stars with no detected planets (60). -
Kavli IPMU Annual 2014 Report
ANNUAL REPORT 2014 REPORT ANNUAL April 2014–March 2015 2014–March April Kavli IPMU Kavli Kavli IPMU Annual Report 2014 April 2014–March 2015 CONTENTS FOREWORD 2 1 INTRODUCTION 4 2 NEWS&EVENTS 8 3 ORGANIZATION 10 4 STAFF 14 5 RESEARCHHIGHLIGHTS 20 5.1 Unbiased Bases and Critical Points of a Potential ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙20 5.2 Secondary Polytopes and the Algebra of the Infrared ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙21 5.3 Moduli of Bridgeland Semistable Objects on 3- Folds and Donaldson- Thomas Invariants ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙22 5.4 Leptogenesis Via Axion Oscillations after Inflation ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙23 5.5 Searching for Matter/Antimatter Asymmetry with T2K Experiment ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ 24 5.6 Development of the Belle II Silicon Vertex Detector ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙26 5.7 Search for Physics beyond Standard Model with KamLAND-Zen ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙28 5.8 Chemical Abundance Patterns of the Most Iron-Poor Stars as Probes of the First Stars in the Universe ∙ ∙ ∙ 29 5.9 Measuring Gravitational lensing Using CMB B-mode Polarization by POLARBEAR ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ 30 5.10 The First Galaxy Maps from the SDSS-IV MaNGA Survey ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙32 5.11 Detection of the Possible Companion Star of Supernova 2011dh ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ -
TESS Discovery of a Super-Earth and Three Sub-Neptunes Hosted by the Bright, Sun-Like Star HD 108236
Swarthmore College Works Physics & Astronomy Faculty Works Physics & Astronomy 2-1-2021 TESS Discovery Of A Super-Earth And Three Sub-Neptunes Hosted By The Bright, Sun-Like Star HD 108236 T. Daylan K. Pinglé J. Wright M. N. Günther K. G. Stassun Follow this and additional works at: https://works.swarthmore.edu/fac-physics See P nextart of page the forAstr additionalophysics andauthors Astr onomy Commons Let us know how access to these works benefits ouy Recommended Citation T. Daylan, K. Pinglé, J. Wright, M. N. Günther, K. G. Stassun, S. R. Kane, A. Vanderburg, D. Jontof-Hutter, J. E. Rodriguez, A. Shporer, C. X. Huang, T. Mikal-Evans, M. Badenas-Agusti, K. A. Collins, B. V. Rackham, S. N. Quinn, R. Cloutier, K. I. Collins, P. Guerra, Eric L.N. Jensen, J. F. Kielkopf, B. Massey, R. P. Schwarz, D. Charbonneau, J. J. Lissauer, J. M. Irwin, Ö Baştürk, B. Fulton, A. Soubkiou, B. Zouhair, S. B. Howell, C. Ziegler, C. Briceño, N. Law, A. W. Mann, N. Scott, E. Furlan, D. R. Ciardi, R. Matson, C. Hellier, D. R. Anderson, R. P. Butler, J. D. Crane, J. K. Teske, S. A. Shectman, M. H. Kristiansen, I. A. Terentev, H. M. Schwengeler, G. R. Ricker, R. Vanderspek, S. Seager, J. N. Winn, J. M. Jenkins, Z. K. Berta-Thompson, L. G. Bouma, W. Fong, G. Furesz, C. E. Henze, E. H. Morgan, E. Quintana, E. B. Ting, and J. D. Twicken. (2021). "TESS Discovery Of A Super-Earth And Three Sub-Neptunes Hosted By The Bright, Sun-Like Star HD 108236". -
Pre-Vetted False Positives for TESS
Swarthmore College Works Physics & Astronomy Faculty Works Physics & Astronomy 11-1-2018 The KELT Follow-Up Network And Transit False-Positive Catalog: Pre-Vetted False Positives For TESS K. A. Collins K. I. Collins FJ.ollow Pepper this and additional works at: https://works.swarthmore.edu/fac-physics J. Labadie-Bar Part of the Astrtz ophysics and Astronomy Commons Let us know how access to these works benefits ouy K. G. Stassun See next page for additional authors Recommended Citation K. A. Collins, K. I. Collins, J. Pepper, J. Labadie-Bartz, K. G. Stassun, B. S. Gaudi, D. Bayliss, J. Bento, K. D. Colón, D. Feliz, D. James, M. C. Johnson, R. B. Kuhn, M. B. Lund, M. T. Penny, J. E. Rodriguez, R. J. Siverd, D. J. Stevens, X. Yao, G. Zhou, M. Akshay, G. F. Aldi, C. Ashcraft, S. Awiphan, Ö. Baştürk, D. Baker, T. G. Beatty, P. Benni, P. Berlind, G. B. Berriman, Z. Berta-Thompson, A. Bieryla, V. Bozza, S. C. Novati, M. L. Calkins, J. M. Cann, D. R. Ciardi, W. D. Cochran, David H. Cohen, D. Conti, J. R. Crepp, I. A. Curtis, G. D'Ago, K. A. Diazeguigure, C. D. Dressing, F. Dubois, E. Ellington, T. G. Ellis, G. A. Esquerdo, P. Evans, A. Friedli, A. Fukui, B. J. Fulton, E. J. Gonzales, J. C. Good, J. Gregorio, T. Gumusayak, D. A. Hancock, C. K. Harada, R. Hart, E. G. Hintz, H. Jang-Condell, E. J. Jeffery, Eric L.N. Jensen, E. Jofré, M. D. Joner, A. Kar, D. H. Kasper, B. Keten, J. -
Correlations Between the Stellar, Planetary, and Debris Components of Exoplanet Systems Observed by Herschel⋆
A&A 565, A15 (2014) Astronomy DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/201323058 & c ESO 2014 Astrophysics Correlations between the stellar, planetary, and debris components of exoplanet systems observed by Herschel J. P. Marshall1,2, A. Moro-Martín3,4, C. Eiroa1, G. Kennedy5,A.Mora6, B. Sibthorpe7, J.-F. Lestrade8, J. Maldonado1,9, J. Sanz-Forcada10,M.C.Wyatt5,B.Matthews11,12,J.Horner2,13,14, B. Montesinos10,G.Bryden15, C. del Burgo16,J.S.Greaves17,R.J.Ivison18,19, G. Meeus1, G. Olofsson20, G. L. Pilbratt21, and G. J. White22,23 (Affiliations can be found after the references) Received 15 November 2013 / Accepted 6 March 2014 ABSTRACT Context. Stars form surrounded by gas- and dust-rich protoplanetary discs. Generally, these discs dissipate over a few (3–10) Myr, leaving a faint tenuous debris disc composed of second-generation dust produced by the attrition of larger bodies formed in the protoplanetary disc. Giant planets detected in radial velocity and transit surveys of main-sequence stars also form within the protoplanetary disc, whilst super-Earths now detectable may form once the gas has dissipated. Our own solar system, with its eight planets and two debris belts, is a prime example of an end state of this process. Aims. The Herschel DEBRIS, DUNES, and GT programmes observed 37 exoplanet host stars within 25 pc at 70, 100, and 160 μm with the sensitiv- ity to detect far-infrared excess emission at flux density levels only an order of magnitude greater than that of the solar system’s Edgeworth-Kuiper belt. Here we present an analysis of that sample, using it to more accurately determine the (possible) level of dust emission from these exoplanet host stars and thereafter determine the links between the various components of these exoplanetary systems through statistical analysis. -
Exoplanet.Eu Catalog Page 1 # Name Mass Star Name
exoplanet.eu_catalog # name mass star_name star_distance star_mass OGLE-2016-BLG-1469L b 13.6 OGLE-2016-BLG-1469L 4500.0 0.048 11 Com b 19.4 11 Com 110.6 2.7 11 Oph b 21 11 Oph 145.0 0.0162 11 UMi b 10.5 11 UMi 119.5 1.8 14 And b 5.33 14 And 76.4 2.2 14 Her b 4.64 14 Her 18.1 0.9 16 Cyg B b 1.68 16 Cyg B 21.4 1.01 18 Del b 10.3 18 Del 73.1 2.3 1RXS 1609 b 14 1RXS1609 145.0 0.73 1SWASP J1407 b 20 1SWASP J1407 133.0 0.9 24 Sex b 1.99 24 Sex 74.8 1.54 24 Sex c 0.86 24 Sex 74.8 1.54 2M 0103-55 (AB) b 13 2M 0103-55 (AB) 47.2 0.4 2M 0122-24 b 20 2M 0122-24 36.0 0.4 2M 0219-39 b 13.9 2M 0219-39 39.4 0.11 2M 0441+23 b 7.5 2M 0441+23 140.0 0.02 2M 0746+20 b 30 2M 0746+20 12.2 0.12 2M 1207-39 24 2M 1207-39 52.4 0.025 2M 1207-39 b 4 2M 1207-39 52.4 0.025 2M 1938+46 b 1.9 2M 1938+46 0.6 2M 2140+16 b 20 2M 2140+16 25.0 0.08 2M 2206-20 b 30 2M 2206-20 26.7 0.13 2M 2236+4751 b 12.5 2M 2236+4751 63.0 0.6 2M J2126-81 b 13.3 TYC 9486-927-1 24.8 0.4 2MASS J11193254 AB 3.7 2MASS J11193254 AB 2MASS J1450-7841 A 40 2MASS J1450-7841 A 75.0 0.04 2MASS J1450-7841 B 40 2MASS J1450-7841 B 75.0 0.04 2MASS J2250+2325 b 30 2MASS J2250+2325 41.5 30 Ari B b 9.88 30 Ari B 39.4 1.22 38 Vir b 4.51 38 Vir 1.18 4 Uma b 7.1 4 Uma 78.5 1.234 42 Dra b 3.88 42 Dra 97.3 0.98 47 Uma b 2.53 47 Uma 14.0 1.03 47 Uma c 0.54 47 Uma 14.0 1.03 47 Uma d 1.64 47 Uma 14.0 1.03 51 Eri b 9.1 51 Eri 29.4 1.75 51 Peg b 0.47 51 Peg 14.7 1.11 55 Cnc b 0.84 55 Cnc 12.3 0.905 55 Cnc c 0.1784 55 Cnc 12.3 0.905 55 Cnc d 3.86 55 Cnc 12.3 0.905 55 Cnc e 0.02547 55 Cnc 12.3 0.905 55 Cnc f 0.1479 55 -
Spaceinn Work Package 3.3 Accompanying Report
SpaceInn Work Package 3.3 Accompanying report on the deliverables D3.8 due for April 30: reduced HARPS spectra with indicators M. Rainer and E. Poretti INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera April 24, 2014 1 Contents 1 Executive summary 3 2 CoRoT ground-based observational program 4 2.1 HARPS observations . .4 3 Reduction of the HARPS spectra 4 4 Indicators 6 4.1 Mean line profiles . .6 4.2 Activity index . .8 4.3 Be V/R index . .9 5 Physical parameters 10 6 Final outputs and how to retrieve them 10 A Header example 15 B Extract of the comprehensive parameters table 17 C Reports on the HARPS observing runs 19 2 1 Executive summary In the framework of the SpaceInn project, the ground-based CoRoT complementary archive (Work Package 3.3) will contain 7103 spectra of the 261 stars observed with the HARPS spectrograph, mostly as complementary observations to the photometric light curves of many of the asteroseismological tar- gets of the CoRoT satellite. A certain number of the archived spectra pertain to other, non-CoRoT targets: these objects were observed in order to better characterize the variability classes of the CoRoT targets. We performed two Large Programmes (LP 182.D-0356 and LP 185.D-0056) with the HARPS spectro- graph spanning over nine semesters, from December 2008 to January 2013, for a total of 135 nights of observations. Our tasks until now have been the following: • the spectra have been reduced, normalized, and converted in VO-compliant fits files; • the mean line profile has been computed for each spectrum; • the radial velocity, vsin i, a binarity flag, a CaHK activity index, and an Hα emission index have been computed for each spectrum. -
September 2020 BRAS Newsletter
A Neowise Comet 2020, photo by Ralf Rohner of Skypointer Photography Monthly Meeting September 14th at 7:00 PM, via Jitsi (Monthly meetings are on 2nd Mondays at Highland Road Park Observatory, temporarily during quarantine at meet.jit.si/BRASMeets). GUEST SPEAKER: NASA Michoud Assembly Facility Director, Robert Champion What's In This Issue? President’s Message Secretary's Summary Business Meeting Minutes Outreach Report Asteroid and Comet News Light Pollution Committee Report Globe at Night Member’s Corner –My Quest For A Dark Place, by Chris Carlton Astro-Photos by BRAS Members Messages from the HRPO REMOTE DISCUSSION Solar Viewing Plus Night Mercurian Elongation Spooky Sensation Great Martian Opposition Observing Notes: Aquila – The Eagle Like this newsletter? See PAST ISSUES online back to 2009 Visit us on Facebook – Baton Rouge Astronomical Society Baton Rouge Astronomical Society Newsletter, Night Visions Page 2 of 27 September 2020 President’s Message Welcome to September. You may have noticed that this newsletter is showing up a little bit later than usual, and it’s for good reason: release of the newsletter will now happen after the monthly business meeting so that we can have a chance to keep everybody up to date on the latest information. Sometimes, this will mean the newsletter shows up a couple of days late. But, the upshot is that you’ll now be able to see what we discussed at the recent business meeting and have time to digest it before our general meeting in case you want to give some feedback. Now that we’re on the new format, business meetings (and the oft neglected Light Pollution Committee Meeting), are going to start being open to all members of the club again by simply joining up in the respective chat rooms the Wednesday before the first Monday of the month—which I encourage people to do, especially if you have some ideas you want to see the club put into action. -
Exoplanet Community Report
JPL Publication 09‐3 Exoplanet Community Report Edited by: P. R. Lawson, W. A. Traub and S. C. Unwin National Aeronautics and Space Administration Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology Pasadena, California March 2009 The work described in this publication was performed at a number of organizations, including the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Publication was provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Compiling and publication support was provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology under a contract with NASA. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not constitute or imply its endorsement by the United States Government, or the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology. © 2009. All rights reserved. The exoplanet community’s top priority is that a line of probeclass missions for exoplanets be established, leading to a flagship mission at the earliest opportunity. iii Contents 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................................................1 1.2 EXOPLANET FORUM 2008: THE PROCESS OF CONSENSUS BEGINS.....................................................2