Differential rotation of stars with multiple transiting planets

Science.gov (United States)

Netto, Yuri; Valio, Adriana

2017-10-01

If a star hosts a planet in an orbit such that it eclipses the star periodically, can be estimated the rotation profile of this star. If planets in multiplanetary system occult different stellar areas, spots in more than one latitude of the stellar disc can be detected. The monitored study of theses starspots in different latitudes allow us to infer the rotation profile of the star. We use the model described in Silva (2003) to characterize the starspots of Kepler-210, an active star with two planets. Kepler-210 is a late K star with an estimated age of 350 +/- 50 Myrs, average rotation period of 12.33 days, mass of 0.63 M⊙ and radius of 0.69 R⊙. The planets that eclipses this star have radii of 0.0498 R s and 0.0635 R s with orbital periods of 2.4532 +/- 0.0007 days and 7.9725 +/- 0.0014 days, respectively, where R s is the star radius.

Transits of planets with small intervals in circumbinary systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, Hui-Gen; Wang, Ying; Zhang, Hui; Zhou, Ji-Lin

2014-01-01

Transit times around single stars can be described well by a linear ephemeris. However, transit times in circumbinary systems are influenced both by the gravitational perturbations and the orbital phase variations of the central binary star. Adopting a coplanar analog of Kepler-16 as an example, we find that circumbinary planets can transit the same star more than once during a single planetary orbit, a phenomenon we call 'tight transits.' In certain geometric architecture, the projected orbital velocity of the planet and the secondary star can approach zero and change sign, resulting in very long transits and/or 2-3 transits during a single binary orbit. Whether tight transits are possible for a particular system depends primarily on the binary mass ratio and the orbital architecture of both the binary and the planet. We derive a time-dependent criterion to judge when tight transits are possible for any circumbinary system. These results are verified with full dynamical integrations that also reveal other tight transit characteristics, i.e., the transit durations and the intervals between tight transits. For the seven currently known circumbinary systems, we estimate these critical parameters both analytically and numerically. Due to the mutual inclination between the planet and the binary, tight transits can only occur across the less massive star B in Kepler-16, -34, -35, and -47 (for both planets). The long-term average frequency of tight transits (compared to typical transits) for Kepler-16, -34, and -35 are estimated to be several percent. Using full numerical integrations, the next tight transit for each system is predicted and the soonest example appears to be Kepler-47b and -47c, which are likely to have tight transits before 2025. These unique and valuable events often deserve special observational scrutiny.

Characterization and Validation of Transiting Planets in the TESS SPOC Pipeline

Science.gov (United States)

Twicken, Joseph D.; Caldwell, Douglas A.; Davies, Misty; Jenkins, Jon Michael; Li, Jie; Morris, Robert L.; Rose, Mark; Smith, Jeffrey C.; Tenenbaum, Peter; Ting, Eric; Wohler, Bill

2018-06-01

Light curves for Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) target stars will be extracted and searched for transiting planet signatures in the Science Processing Operations Center (SPOC) Science Pipeline at NASA Ames Research Center. Targets for which the transiting planet detection threshold is exceeded will be processed in the Data Validation (DV) component of the Pipeline. The primary functions of DV are to (1) characterize planets identified in the transiting planet search, (2) search for additional transiting planet signatures in light curves after modeled transit signatures have been removed, and (3) perform a comprehensive suite of diagnostic tests to aid in discrimination between true transiting planets and false positive detections. DV data products include extensive reports by target, one-page summaries by planet candidate, and tabulated transit model fit and diagnostic test results. DV products may be employed by humans and automated systems to vet planet candidates identified in the Pipeline. TESS will launch in 2018 and survey the full sky for transiting exoplanets over a period of two years. The SPOC pipeline was ported from the Kepler Science Operations Center (SOC) codebase and extended for TESS after the mission was selected for flight in the NASA Astrophysics Explorer program. We describe the Data Validation component of the SPOC Pipeline. The diagnostic tests exploit the flux (i.e., light curve) and pixel time series associated with each target to support the determination of the origin of each purported transiting planet signature. We also highlight the differences between the DV components for Kepler and TESS. Candidate planet detections and data products will be delivered to the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST); the MAST URL is archive.stsci.edu/tess. Funding for the TESS Mission has been provided by the NASA Science Mission Directorate.

Limits On Undetected Planets in the Six Transiting Planets Kepler-11 System

Science.gov (United States)

Lissauer, Jack

2017-01-01

The Kepler-11 has five inner planets ranging from approx. 2 - 1 times as massive Earth in a tightly-packed configuration, with orbital periods between 10 and 47 days. A sixth planet, Kepler-11 g, with a period of118 days, is also observed. The spacing between planets Kepler-11 f and Kepler-11 g is wide enough to allow room for a planet to orbit stably between them. We compare six and seven planet fits to measured transit timing variations (TTVs) of the six known planets. We find that in most cases an additional planet between Kepler-11 f and Kepler-11 g degrades rather than enhances the fit to the TTV data, and where the fit is improved, the improvement provides no significant evidence of a planet between Kepler-11 f and Kepler-11 g. This implies that any planet in this region must be low in mass. We also provide constraints on undiscovered planets orbiting exterior to Kepler-11 g. representations will be described.

The metallicities of stars with and without transiting planets

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Buchhave, Lars A.; Latham, David W.

2015-01-01

Host star metallicities have been used to infer observational constraints on planet formation throughout the history of the exoplanet field. The giant planet metallicity correlation has now been widely accepted, but questions remain as to whether the metallicity correlation extends to the small...... terrestrial-sized planets. Here, we report metallicities for a sample of 518 stars in the Kepler field that have no detected transiting planets and compare their metallicity distribution to a sample of stars that hosts small planets (). Importantly, both samples have been analyzed in a homogeneous manner...... using the same set of tools (Stellar Parameters Classification tool). We find the average metallicity of the sample of stars without detected transiting planets to be and the sample of stars hosting small planets to be . The average metallicities of the two samples are indistinguishable within...

Zodiacal Exoplanets in Time (ZEIT). V. A Uniform Search for Transiting Planets in Young Clusters Observed by K2

Science.gov (United States)

Rizzuto, Aaron C.; Mann, Andrew W.; Vanderburg, Andrew; Kraus, Adam L.; Covey, Kevin R.

2017-12-01

Detection of transiting exoplanets around young stars is more difficult than for older systems owing to increased stellar variability. Nine young open cluster planets have been found in the K2 data, but no single analysis pipeline identified all planets. We have developed a transit search pipeline for young stars that uses a transit-shaped notch and quadratic continuum in a 12 or 24 hr window to fit both the stellar variability and the presence of a transit. In addition, for the most rapid rotators ({P}{rot}Pleiades, Hyades, Praesepe) and conduct a uniform search of the members. We identify all known transiting exoplanets in the clusters, 17 eclipsing binaries, one transiting planet candidate orbiting a potential Pleiades member, and three orbiting unlikely members of the young clusters. Limited injection recovery testing on the known planet hosts indicates that for the older Praesepe systems we are sensitive to additional exoplanets as small as 1-2 R ⊕, and for the larger Upper Scorpius planet host (K2-33) our pipeline is sensitive to ˜4 R ⊕ transiting planets. The lack of detected multiple systems in the young clusters is consistent with the expected frequency from the original Kepler sample, within our detection limits. With a robust pipeline that detects all known planets in the young clusters, occurrence rate testing at young ages is now possible.

DISCOVERY OF A TRANSITING PLANET NEAR THE SNOW-LINE

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kipping, D. M.; Torres, G.; Buchhave, L. A.

2014-01-01

In most theories of planet formation, the snow-line represents a boundary between the emergence of the interior rocky planets and the exterior ice giants. The wide separation of the snow-line makes the discovery of transiting worlds challenging, yet transits would allow for detailed subsequent...

Dynamical Constraints on Non-Transiting Planets at Trappist-1

Science.gov (United States)

Jontof-Hutter, Daniel; Truong, Vinh; Ford, Eric; Robertson, Paul; Terrien, Ryan

2018-04-01

The outermost of the seven known planets of Trappist-1 orbits six times closer to its host star than Mercury orbits the sun. The architecture of this system beyond 0.07 AU remains unknown. While the presence of additional planets will ultimately be determined by observations, in the meantime, some constraints can be derived from dynamical models.We will firstly look at the expected signature of additional planets at Trappist-1 on the transit times of the known planets to determine at what distances putatuve planets can be ruled out.Secondly, the remarkably compact configuration of Trappist-1 ensures that the known planets are secularly coupled, keeping their mutual inclinations very small and making their cotransiting geometry likely if Trappist-1h transits. We determine the range of masses and orbital inclinations of a putatuve outer planet that would make the observed configuration unlikely, and compare these to these constraints to those expected from radial velocity observations.

DUST FILTRATION BY PLANET-INDUCED GAP EDGES: IMPLICATIONS FOR TRANSITIONAL DISKS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhu Zhaohuan; Dong Ruobing [Department of Astrophysical Sciences, 4 Ivy Lane, Peyton Hall, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544 (United States); Nelson, Richard P. [Astronomy Unit, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS (United Kingdom); Espaillat, Catherine [Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Hartmann, Lee, E-mail: zhzhu@astro.princeton.edu, E-mail: rdong@astro.princeton.edu, E-mail: lhartm@umich.edu, E-mail: r.p.nelson@qmul.ac.uk, E-mail: cespaillat@cfa.harvard.edu [Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan, 500 Church St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (United States)

2012-08-10

By carrying out two-dimensional two-fluid global simulations, we have studied the response of dust to gap formation by a single planet in the gaseous component of a protoplanetary disk-the so-called dust filtration mechanism. We have found that a gap opened by a giant planet at 20 AU in an {alpha} = 0.01, M-dot =10{sup -8} M{sub Sun} yr{sup -1} disk can effectively stop dust particles larger than 0.1 mm drifting inward, leaving a submillimeter (submm) dust cavity/hole. However, smaller particles are difficult to filter by a gap induced by a several M{sub J} planet due to (1) dust diffusion and (2) a high gas accretion velocity at the gap edge. Based on these simulations, an analytic model is derived to understand what size particles can be filtered by the planet-induced gap edge. We show that a dimensionless parameter T{sub s} /{alpha}, which is the ratio between the dimensionless dust stopping time and the disk viscosity parameter, is important for the dust filtration process. Finally, with our updated understanding of dust filtration, we have computed Monte Carlo radiative transfer models with variable dust size distributions to generate the spectral energy distributions of disks with gaps. By comparing with transitional disk observations (e.g., GM Aur), we have found that dust filtration alone has difficulties depleting small particles sufficiently to explain the near-IR deficit of moderate M-dot transitional disks, except under some extreme circumstances. The scenario of gap opening by multiple planets studied previously suffers the same difficulty. One possible solution is to invoke both dust filtration and dust growth in the inner disk. In this scenario, a planet-induced gap filters large dust particles in the disk, and the remaining small dust particles passing to the inner disk can grow efficiently without replenishment from fragmentation of large grains. Predictions for ALMA have also been made based on all these scenarios. We conclude that dust filtration

DUST FILTRATION BY PLANET-INDUCED GAP EDGES: IMPLICATIONS FOR TRANSITIONAL DISKS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhu Zhaohuan; Dong Ruobing; Nelson, Richard P.; Espaillat, Catherine; Hartmann, Lee

2012-01-01

By carrying out two-dimensional two-fluid global simulations, we have studied the response of dust to gap formation by a single planet in the gaseous component of a protoplanetary disk—the so-called dust filtration mechanism. We have found that a gap opened by a giant planet at 20 AU in an α = 0.01, M-dot =10 -8 M ☉ yr -1 disk can effectively stop dust particles larger than 0.1 mm drifting inward, leaving a submillimeter (submm) dust cavity/hole. However, smaller particles are difficult to filter by a gap induced by a several M J planet due to (1) dust diffusion and (2) a high gas accretion velocity at the gap edge. Based on these simulations, an analytic model is derived to understand what size particles can be filtered by the planet-induced gap edge. We show that a dimensionless parameter T s /α, which is the ratio between the dimensionless dust stopping time and the disk viscosity parameter, is important for the dust filtration process. Finally, with our updated understanding of dust filtration, we have computed Monte Carlo radiative transfer models with variable dust size distributions to generate the spectral energy distributions of disks with gaps. By comparing with transitional disk observations (e.g., GM Aur), we have found that dust filtration alone has difficulties depleting small particles sufficiently to explain the near-IR deficit of moderate M-dot transitional disks, except under some extreme circumstances. The scenario of gap opening by multiple planets studied previously suffers the same difficulty. One possible solution is to invoke both dust filtration and dust growth in the inner disk. In this scenario, a planet-induced gap filters large dust particles in the disk, and the remaining small dust particles passing to the inner disk can grow efficiently without replenishment from fragmentation of large grains. Predictions for ALMA have also been made based on all these scenarios. We conclude that dust filtration with planet(s) in the disk is a

HIDING IN THE SHADOWS: SEARCHING FOR PLANETS IN PRE-TRANSITIONAL AND TRANSITIONAL DISKS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dobinson, Jack; Leinhardt, Zoë M.; Dodson-Robinson, Sarah E.; Teanby, Nick A.

2013-01-01

Transitional and pre-transitional disks can be explained by a number of mechanisms. This work aims to find a single observationally detectable marker that would imply a planetary origin for the gap and, therefore, indirectly indicate the presence of a young planet. N-body simulations were conducted to investigate the effect of an embedded planet of one Jupiter mass on the production of instantaneous collisional dust derived from a background planetesimal disk. Our new model allows us to predict the dust distribution and resulting observable markers with greater accuracy than previous works. Dynamical influences from a planet on a circular orbit are shown to enhance dust production in the disk interior and exterior to the planet orbit, while removing planetesimals from the orbit itself, creating a clearly defined gap. In the case of an eccentric planet, the gap opened by the planet is not as clear as the circular case, but there is a detectable asymmetry in the dust disk

Limits to the presence of transiting circumbinary planets in CoRoT Data

Science.gov (United States)

Klagyivik, P.; Deeg, H. J.; Cabrera, J.; Csizmadia, Sz.; Almenara, J. M.

2017-06-01

Aims: During its flight phase, from 2007-2012, the CoRoT mission delivered light curves for over 2000 eclipsing binaries. Data from the Kepler mission have proven the existence of several transiting circumbinary planets. While light curves from CoRoT typically have lower precision and shorter coverage, the number of CoRoT targets is similar to that of Kepler and some of the known circumbinary planets could potentially be detected in CoRoT data as well. The aim of this work was to reanalyse the entire CoRoT Data set to search for the presence of circumbinary planets and to derive limits on the abundances of such planets. Methods: We developed a code that removes the signatures of eclipsing binaries from the light curves, and searches for quasi-periodic, transit-like features in the light curves after removal of binary eclipses and instrumental features. The code requires little information on sample systems and can also be used for other space missions, such as Kepler, K2, TESS, and PLATO. The code is broad in the requirements leading to detections, but was tuned to deliver an amount of detections that are manageable in a subsequent, mainly visual, assessment of their origin. Results: We identified three planet candidates in the CoRoT sample whose transits would have arisen from a single pass across the central binary; however, no candidates with transit events from multiple planetary orbits remained. We calculated the upper limits for the number of Jupiter, Saturn-, and Neptune-sized planets in co-planar orbits for different orbital period ranges. We found that there are much fewer giant planets in short periodic orbits around close binary systems than around single stars. Full Table 1 is only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (http://130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/602/A117

Transits of extrasolar moons around luminous giant planets

Science.gov (United States)

Heller, R.

2016-04-01

Beyond Earth-like planets, moons can be habitable, too. No exomoons have been securely detected, but they could be extremely abundant. Young Jovian planets can be as hot as late M stars, with effective temperatures of up to 2000 K. Transits of their moons might be detectable in their infrared photometric light curves if the planets are sufficiently separated (≳10 AU) from the stars to be directly imaged. The moons will be heated by radiation from their young planets and potentially by tidal friction. Although stellar illumination will be weak beyond 5 AU, these alternative energy sources could liquify surface water on exomoons for hundreds of Myr. A Mars-mass H2O-rich moon around β Pic b would have a transit depth of 1.5 × 10-3, in reach of near-future technology.

Three Small Planets Transiting a Hyades Star

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Livingston, John H.; Dai, Fei; Hirano, Teruyuki

2018-01-01

We present the discovery of three small planets transiting K2-136 (LP 358 348, EPIC 247589423), a late K dwarf in the Hyades. The planets have orbital periods of 7.9757 ± 0.0011, {17.30681}-0.00036+0.00034, and {25.5715}-0.0040+0.0038 {days}, and radii of 1.05 ± 0.16, 3.14 ± 0.36, and {1.55}-0.21...

Update on the KELT Transit Survey: Hot Planets around Hot Stars

Science.gov (United States)

Gaudi, B. Scott; Stassun, Keivan G.; Pepper, Joshua; KELT Collaboration

2018-01-01

The KELT Transit Survey consists of a pair of small-aperture, wide-angle automated telescopes located at Winer Observatory in Sonoita, Arizona and the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) in Sutherland, South Africa. Together, they are surveying roughly 70% of the sky for transiting planets. By virtue of their small apertures (42 mm) and large fields-of-view (26 degrees x 26 degrees), KELT is most sensitive to hot Jupiters transiting relatively bright (V~8-11), and thus relatively hot stars. I will provide an update on the planets discovered by KELT, focusing in detail on our recent discoveries of very hot planets transiting several bright A and early F stars.

Accreting planets as dust dams in 'transition' disks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Owen, James E.

2014-01-01

We investigate under what circumstances an embedded planet in a protoplanetary disk may sculpt the dust distribution such that it observationally presents as a 'transition' disk. We concern ourselves with 'transition' disks that have large holes (≳ 10 AU) and high accretion rates (∼10 –9 -10 –8 M ☉ yr –1 ), particularly, those disks which photoevaporative models struggle to explain. Adopting the observed accretion rates in 'transition' disks, we find that the accretion luminosity from the forming planet is significant, and can dominate over the stellar luminosity at the gap edge. This planetary accretion luminosity can apply a significant radiation pressure to small (s ≲ 1 μm) dust particles provided they are suitably decoupled from the gas. Secular evolution calculations that account for the evolution of the gas and dust components in a disk with an embedded, accreting planet, show that only with the addition of the radiation pressure can we explain the full observed characteristics of a 'transition' disk (NIR dip in the spectral energy distribution (SED), millimeter cavity, and high accretion rate). At suitably high planet masses (≳ 3-4 M J ), radiation pressure from the accreting planet is able to hold back the small dust particles, producing a heavily dust-depleted inner disk that is optically thin to infrared radiation. The planet-disk system will present as a 'transition' disk with a dip in the SED only when the planet mass and planetary accretion rate are high enough. At other times, it will present as a disk with a primordial SED, but with a cavity in the millimeter, as observed in a handful of protoplanetary disks.

How does a planet excite multiple spiral arms?

Science.gov (United States)

Bae, Jaehan; Zhu, Zhaohuan

2018-01-01

Protoplanetary disk simulations show that a single planet excites multiple spiral arms in the background disk, potentially supported by the multi-armed spirals revealed with recent high-resolution observations in some disks. The existence of multiple spiral arms is of importance in many aspects. It is empirically found that the arm-to-arm separation increases as a function of the planetary mass, so one can use the morphology of observed spiral arms to infer the mass of unseen planets. In addition, a spiral arm opens a radial gap as it steepens into a shock, so when a planet excites multiple spiral arms it can open multiple gaps in the disk. Despite the important implications, however, the formation mechanism of multiple spiral arms has not been fully understood by far.In this talk, we explain how a planet excites multiple spiral arms. The gravitational potential of a planet can be decomposed into a Fourier series, a sum of individual azimuthal modes having different azimuthal wavenumbers. Using a linear wave theory, we first demonstrate that appropriate sets of Fourier decomposed waves can be in phase, raising a possibility that constructive interference among the waves can produce coherent structures - spiral arms. More than one spiral arm can form since such constructive interference can occur at different positions in the disk for different sets of waves. We then verify this hypothesis using a suite of two-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations. Finally, we present non-linear behavior in the formation of multiple spiral arms.

The formation of co-orbital planets and their resulting transit signatures

Science.gov (United States)

Granados Contreras, Agueda Paula; Boley, Aaron

2018-04-01

Systems with Tightly-packed Inner Planets (STIPs) are metastable, exhibiting sudden transitions to an unstable state that can potentially lead to planet consolidation. When these systems are embedded in a gaseous disc, planet-disc interactions can significantly reduce the frequency of instabilities, and if they do occur, disc torques alter the dynamical outcomes. We ran a suite of N-body simulations of synthetic 6-planet STIPs using an independent implementation of IAS15 that includes a prescription for gaseous tidal damping. The algorithm is based on the results of disc simulations that self-consistently evolve gas and planets. Even for very compact configurations, the STIPS are resistant to instability when gas is present. However, instability can still occur, and in some cases, the combination of system instability and gaseous damping leads to the formation of co-orbiting planets that are stable even when gas damping is removed. While rare, such systems should be detectable in transit surveys, although the dynamics of the system can make the transit signature difficult to identify.

Masses, Radii, and Orbits of Small Kepler Planets: The Transition from Gaseous to Rocky Planets

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Marcy, G.W.; et al., [Unknown; Hekker, S.

2014-01-01

We report on the masses, sizes, and orbits of the planets orbiting 22 Kepler stars. There are 49 planet candidates around these stars, including 42 detected through transits and 7 revealed by precise Doppler measurements of the host stars. Based on an analysis of the Kepler brightness measurements,

Transiting circumbinary planets Kepler-34 b and Kepler-35 b

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Welsh, William F.; Orosz, Jerome A.; Carter, Joshua A.; Fabrycky, Daniel C.; Ford, Eric B.; Lissauer, Jack J.; Prša, Andrej; Quinn, Samuel N.; Ragozzine, Darin; Short, Donald R.; Torres, Guillermo; Winn, Joshua N.; Doyle, Laurance R.; Barclay, Thomas; Batalha, Natalie; Bloemen, Steven; Brugamyer, Erik; Buchhave, Lars A.; Caldwell, Caroline; Caldwell, Douglas A.; Christiansen, Jessie L.; Ciardi, David R.; Cochran, William D.; Endl, Michael; Fortney, Jonathan J.; Gautier III, Thomas N.; Gilliland, Ronald L.; Haas, Michael R.; Hall, Jennifer R.; Holman, Matthew J.; Howard, Andrew W.; Howell, Steve B.; Isaacson, Howard; Jenkins, Jon M.; Klaus, Todd C.; Latham, David W.; Li, Jie; Marcy, Geoffrey W.; Mazeh, Tsevi; Quintana, Elisa V.; Robertson, Paul; Shporer, Avi; Steffen, Jason H.; Windmiller, Gur; Koch, David G.; Borucki, William J.

2012-01-11

Most Sun-like stars in the Galaxy reside in gravitationally-bound pairs of stars called 'binary stars'. While long anticipated, the existence of a 'circumbinary planet' orbiting such a pair of normal stars was not definitively established until the discovery of Kepler-16. Incontrovertible evidence was provided by the miniature eclipses ('transits') of the stars by the planet. However, questions remain about the prevalence of circumbinary planets and their range of orbital and physical properties. Here we present two additional transiting circumbinary planets, Kepler-34 and Kepler-35. Each is a low-density gas giant planet on an orbit closely aligned with that of its parent stars. Kepler-34 orbits two Sun-like stars every 289 days, while Kepler-35 orbits a pair of smaller stars (89% and 81% of the Sun's mass) every 131 days. Due to the orbital motion of the stars, the planets experience large multi-periodic variations in incident stellar radiation. The observed rate of circumbinary planets implies > ~1% of close binary stars have giant planets in nearly coplanar orbits, yielding a Galactic population of at least several million.

GIANT PLANET MIGRATION, DISK EVOLUTION, AND THE ORIGIN OF TRANSITIONAL DISKS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alexander, Richard D.; Armitage, Philip J.

2009-01-01

We present models of giant planet migration in evolving protoplanetary disks. Our disks evolve subject to viscous transport of angular momentum and photoevaporation, while planets undergo Type II migration. We use a Monte Carlo approach, running large numbers of models with a range in initial conditions. We find that relatively simple models can reproduce both the observed radial distribution of extrasolar giant planets, and the lifetimes and accretion histories of protoplanetary disks. The use of state-of-the-art photoevaporation models results in a degree of coupling between planet formation and disk clearing, which has not been found previously. Some accretion across planetary orbits is necessary if planets are to survive at radii ∼<1.5 AU, and if planets of Jupiter mass or greater are to survive in our models they must be able to form at late times, when the disk surface density in the formation region is low. Our model forms two different types of 'transitional' disks, embedded planets and clearing disks, which show markedly different properties. We find that the observable properties of these systems are broadly consistent with current observations, and highlight useful observational diagnostics. We predict that young transition disks are more likely to contain embedded giant planets, while older transition disks are more likely to be undergoing disk clearing.

A cloaking device for transiting planets

Science.gov (United States)

Kipping, David M.; Teachey, Alex

2016-06-01

The transit method is presently the most successful planet discovery and characterization tool at our disposal. Other advanced civilizations would surely be aware of this technique and appreciate that their home planet's existence and habitability is essentially broadcast to all stars lying along their ecliptic plane. We suggest that advanced civilizations could cloak their presence, or deliberately broadcast it, through controlled laser emission. Such emission could distort the apparent shape of their transit light curves with relatively little energy, due to the collimated beam and relatively infrequent nature of transits. We estimate that humanity could cloak the Earth from Kepler-like broad-band surveys using an optical monochromatic laser array emitting a peak power of ˜30 MW for ˜10 hours per year. A chromatic cloak, effective at all wavelengths, is more challenging requiring a large array of tunable lasers with a total power of ˜250 MW. Alternatively, a civilization could cloak only the atmospheric signatures associated with biological activity on their world, such as oxygen, which is achievable with a peak laser power of just ˜160 kW per transit. Finally, we suggest that the time of transit for optical Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) is analogous to the water-hole in radio SETI, providing a clear window in which observers may expect to communicate. Accordingly, we propose that a civilization may deliberately broadcast their technological capabilities by distorting their transit to an artificial shape, which serves as both a SETI beacon and a medium for data transmission. Such signatures could be readily searched in the archival data of transit surveys.

Five Kepler target stars that show multiple transiting exoplanet candidates

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Steffen, Jason H.; /Fermilab; Batalha, Natalie M.; /San Jose State U.; Borucki, William J.; /NASA, Ames; Buchhave, Lars A.; /Harvard-Smithsonian Ctr. Astrophys. /Bohr Inst.; Caldwell, Douglas A.; /NASA, Ames /SETI Inst., Mtn. View; Cochran, William D.; /Texas U.; Endl, Michael; /Texas U.; Fabrycky, Daniel C.; /Harvard-Smithsonian Ctr. Astrophys.; Fressin, Francois; /Harvard-Smithsonian Ctr. Astrophys.; Ford, Eric B.; /Florida U.; Fortney, Jonathan J.; /UC, Santa Cruz, Phys. Dept. /NASA, Ames

2010-06-01

We present and discuss five candidate exoplanetary systems identified with the Kepler spacecraft. These five systems show transits from multiple exoplanet candidates. Should these objects prove to be planetary in nature, then these five systems open new opportunities for the field of exoplanets and provide new insights into the formation and dynamical evolution of planetary systems. We discuss the methods used to identify multiple transiting objects from the Kepler photometry as well as the false-positive rejection methods that have been applied to these data. One system shows transits from three distinct objects while the remaining four systems show transits from two objects. Three systems have planet candidates that are near mean motion commensurabilities - two near 2:1 and one just outside 5:2. We discuss the implications that multitransiting systems have on the distribution of orbital inclinations in planetary systems, and hence their dynamical histories; as well as their likely masses and chemical compositions. A Monte Carlo study indicates that, with additional data, most of these systems should exhibit detectable transit timing variations (TTV) due to gravitational interactions - though none are apparent in these data. We also discuss new challenges that arise in TTV analyses due to the presence of more than two planets in a system.

Discovering transits of HD 209458-b type planets with Hipparcos and FAME photometry

Science.gov (United States)

Castellano, Timothy Paul

The motivation and prospects for success of a search for transits of short-period extrasolar planets of late-type main sequence stars in the Hipparcos satellite photometry archive is outlined. Recent extrasolar planet discoveries by the radial velocity (RV) method reveal that 1 in 20 spectral type F, G and K dwarfs possess short-period planets. Careful consideration of the transit detection probability as a function of stellar spectral type and planet orbit size results in the expectation that 6 to 24 transiting planets may be found among the 118,204 Hipparcos catalog stars. A search algorithm based on the known properties of the single known transiting extrasolar planet HD 209458-b was applied to carefully- selected samples of stars. The results of these searches and simulations of the detection efficiency for idealized transits are presented. Statistical and catalog-based methods for discriminating transits from intrinsic stellar variability and eclipses due to stellar companions are developed and described. Candidate lists that are the results of these searches are presented. Each candidate is placed in a color magnitude diagram based on Hipparcos derived distances and absolute magnitudes in order to clearly identify evolved stars. The effect of Lutz-Kelker bias on this main sequence membership determination is discussed in an Appendix. A Hipparcos-photometry-based intrinsic stellar variability determination is performed and compared to ground-based measurements. It is shown that intrinsic stellar variability of late-type main sequence stars is not a major concern for extrasolar jovian planet transit searches. The prospects for transit detection by the higher precision measurements of several hundred thousand main sequence stars to be made by the upcoming Full Sky Astrometric Explorer (FAME) satellite are similarly explored. A novel method for directly determining the mass of a transiting planet's parent star from timing measurements is introduced briefly in an

Transiting circumbinary planets Kepler-34 b and Kepler-35 b.

Science.gov (United States)

Welsh, William F; Orosz, Jerome A; Carter, Joshua A; Fabrycky, Daniel C; Ford, Eric B; Lissauer, Jack J; Prša, Andrej; Quinn, Samuel N; Ragozzine, Darin; Short, Donald R; Torres, Guillermo; Winn, Joshua N; Doyle, Laurance R; Barclay, Thomas; Batalha, Natalie; Bloemen, Steven; Brugamyer, Erik; Buchhave, Lars A; Caldwell, Caroline; Caldwell, Douglas A; Christiansen, Jessie L; Ciardi, David R; Cochran, William D; Endl, Michael; Fortney, Jonathan J; Gautier, Thomas N; Gilliland, Ronald L; Haas, Michael R; Hall, Jennifer R; Holman, Matthew J; Howard, Andrew W; Howell, Steve B; Isaacson, Howard; Jenkins, Jon M; Klaus, Todd C; Latham, David W; Li, Jie; Marcy, Geoffrey W; Mazeh, Tsevi; Quintana, Elisa V; Robertson, Paul; Shporer, Avi; Steffen, Jason H; Windmiller, Gur; Koch, David G; Borucki, William J

2012-01-11

Most Sun-like stars in the Galaxy reside in gravitationally bound pairs of stars (binaries). Although long anticipated, the existence of a 'circumbinary planet' orbiting such a pair of normal stars was not definitively established until the discovery of the planet transiting (that is, passing in front of) Kepler-16. Questions remained, however, about the prevalence of circumbinary planets and their range of orbital and physical properties. Here we report two additional transiting circumbinary planets: Kepler-34 (AB)b and Kepler-35 (AB)b, referred to here as Kepler-34 b and Kepler-35 b, respectively. Each is a low-density gas-giant planet on an orbit closely aligned with that of its parent stars. Kepler-34 b orbits two Sun-like stars every 289 days, whereas Kepler-35 b orbits a pair of smaller stars (89% and 81% of the Sun's mass) every 131 days. The planets experience large multi-periodic variations in incident stellar radiation arising from the orbital motion of the stars. The observed rate of circumbinary planets in our sample implies that more than ∼1% of close binary stars have giant planets in nearly coplanar orbits, yielding a Galactic population of at least several million.

Modeling Kepler Transit Light Curves as False Positives: Rejection of Blend Scenarios for Kepler-9, and Validation of Kepler-9 d, a Super-Earth-Size Planet in a Multiple System

Science.gov (United States)

Torres, Guillermo; Fressin, Francois; Batalha, Natalie M.; Borucki, William J.; Brown, Timothy M.; Bryson, Stephen T.; Buchhave, Lars A.; Charbonneau, David; Ciardi, David R.; Dunham, Edward W.;

Homogeneous Studies of Transiting Extrasolar Planets: Current Status and Future Plans

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, John

2011-09-01

We now know of over 500 planets orbiting stars other than our Sun. The jewels in the crown are the transiting planets, for these are the only ones whose masses and radii are measurable. They are fundamental for our understanding of the formation, evolution, structure and atmospheric properties of extrasolar planets. However, their characterization is not straightforward, requiring extremely high-precision photometry and spectroscopy as well as input from theoretical stellar models. I summarize the motivation and current status of a project to measure the physical properties of all known transiting planetary systems using homogeneous techniques (Southworth 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 in preparation). Careful attention is paid to the treatment of limb darkening, contaminating light, correlated noise, numerical integration, orbital eccentricity and orientation, systematic errors from theoretical stellar models, and empirical constraints. Complete error budgets are calculated for each system and can be used to determine which type of observation would be most useful for improving the parameter measurements. Known correlations between the orbital periods, masses, surface gravities, and equilibrium temperatures of transiting planets can be explored more safely due to the homogeneity of the properties. I give a sneak preview of Homogeneous Studies Paper 4, which includes the properties of thirty transiting planetary systems observed by the CoRoT, Kepler and Deep Impact space missions. Future opportunities are discussed, plus remaining problems with our understanding of transiting planets. I acknowledge funding from the UK STFC in the form of an Advanced Fellowship.

PLANET-PLANET SCATTERING IN PLANETESIMAL DISKS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Raymond, Sean N.; Armitage, Philip J.; Gorelick, Noel

2009-01-01

We study the final architecture of planetary systems that evolve under the combined effects of planet-planet and planetesimal scattering. Using N-body simulations we investigate the dynamics of marginally unstable systems of gas and ice giants both in isolation and when the planets form interior to a planetesimal belt. The unstable isolated systems evolve under planet-planet scattering to yield an eccentricity distribution that matches that observed for extrasolar planets. When planetesimals are included the outcome depends upon the total mass of the planets. For M tot ∼> 1 M J the final eccentricity distribution remains broad, whereas for M tot ∼ J a combination of divergent orbital evolution and recircularization of scattered planets results in a preponderance of nearly circular final orbits. We also study the fate of marginally stable multiple planet systems in the presence of planetesimal disks, and find that for high planet masses the majority of such systems evolve into resonance. A significant fraction leads to resonant chains that are planetary analogs of Jupiter's Galilean satellites. We predict that a transition from eccentric to near-circular orbits will be observed once extrasolar planet surveys detect sub-Jovian mass planets at orbital radii of a ≅ 5-10 AU.

Auto-Vetting Transiting Planet Candidates Identified by the Kepler Pipeline

Science.gov (United States)

Jenkins, Jon M.; McCauliff, Sean; Burke, Christopher; Seader, Shawn; Twicken, Joseph; Klaus, Todd; Sanderfer, Dwight; Srivastava, Ashok; Haas, Michael R.

2014-04-01

The Kepler Mission simultaneously measures the brightness of more than 150,000 stars every 29.4 minutes primarily for the purpose of transit photometry. Over the course of its 3.5-year primary mission Kepler has observed over 190,000 distinct stars, announcing 2,321 planet candidates, 2,165 eclipsing binaries, and 105 confirmed planets. As Kepler moves into its 4-year extended mission, the total number of transit-like features identified in the light curves has increased to as many as ~18,000. This number of signals has become intractable for human beings to inspect by eye in a thorough and timely fashion. To mitigate this problem we are developing machine learning approaches to perform the task of reviewing the diagnostics for each transit signal candidate to establish a preliminary list of planetary candidates ranked from most credible to least credible. Our preliminary results indicate that random forests can classify potential transiting planet signatures with an accuracy of more than 98.6% as measured by the area under a receiver-operating curve.

KEPLER-1647B: THE LARGEST AND LONGEST-PERIOD KEPLER TRANSITING CIRCUMBINARY PLANET

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kostov, Veselin B. [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Mail Code 665, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States); Orosz, Jerome A.; Welsh, William F.; Short, Donald R. [Department of Astronomy, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA 92182 (United States); Doyle, Laurance R. [SETI Institute, 189 Bernardo Avenue, Mountain View, CA 94043 (United States); Principia College, IMoP, One Maybeck Place, Elsah, IL 62028 (United States); Fabrycky, Daniel C. [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, 5640 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637 (United States); Haghighipour, Nader [Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii-Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States); Quarles, Billy [Department of Physics and Physical Science, The University of Nebraska at Kearney, Kearney, NE 68849 (United States); Cochran, William D.; Endl, Michael [McDonald Observatory, The University of Texas as Austin, Austin, TX 78712-0259 (United States); Ford, Eric B. [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, The Pennsylvania State University, 428A Davey Lab, University Park, PA 16802 (United States); Gregorio, Joao [Atalaia Group and Crow-Observatory, Portalegre (Portugal); Hinse, Tobias C. [Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI), Advanced Astronomy and Space Science Division, Daejeon 305-348 (Korea, Republic of); Isaacson, Howard [Department of Astronomy, University of California Berkeley, 501 Campbell Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Jenkins, Jon M. [NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States); Jensen, Eric L. N. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA 19081 (United States); Kane, Stephen [Department of Physics and Astronomy, San Francisco State University, 1600 Holloway Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94132 (United States); Kull, Ilya, E-mail: veselin.b.kostov@nasa.gov [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Tel Aviv University, 69978 Tel Aviv (Israel); and others

2016-08-10

We report the discovery of a new Kepler transiting circumbinary planet (CBP). This latest addition to the still-small family of CBPs defies the current trend of known short-period planets orbiting near the stability limit of binary stars. Unlike the previous discoveries, the planet revolving around the eclipsing binary system Kepler-1647 has a very long orbital period (∼1100 days) and was at conjunction only twice during the Kepler mission lifetime. Due to the singular configuration of the system, Kepler-1647b is not only the longest-period transiting CBP at the time of writing, but also one of the longest-period transiting planets. With a radius of 1.06 ± 0.01 R {sub Jup}, it is also the largest CBP to date. The planet produced three transits in the light curve of Kepler-1647 (one of them during an eclipse, creating a syzygy) and measurably perturbed the times of the stellar eclipses, allowing us to measure its mass, 1.52 ± 0.65 M {sub Jup}. The planet revolves around an 11-day period eclipsing binary consisting of two solar-mass stars on a slightly inclined, mildly eccentric ( e {sub bin} = 0.16), spin-synchronized orbit. Despite having an orbital period three times longer than Earth’s, Kepler-1647b is in the conservative habitable zone of the binary star throughout its orbit.

KEPLER-1647B: THE LARGEST AND LONGEST-PERIOD KEPLER TRANSITING CIRCUMBINARY PLANET

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kostov, Veselin B.; Orosz, Jerome A.; Welsh, William F.; Short, Donald R.; Doyle, Laurance R.; Fabrycky, Daniel C.; Haghighipour, Nader; Quarles, Billy; Cochran, William D.; Endl, Michael; Ford, Eric B.; Gregorio, Joao; Hinse, Tobias C.; Isaacson, Howard; Jenkins, Jon M.; Jensen, Eric L. N.; Kane, Stephen; Kull, Ilya

2016-01-01

We report the discovery of a new Kepler transiting circumbinary planet (CBP). This latest addition to the still-small family of CBPs defies the current trend of known short-period planets orbiting near the stability limit of binary stars. Unlike the previous discoveries, the planet revolving around the eclipsing binary system Kepler-1647 has a very long orbital period (∼1100 days) and was at conjunction only twice during the Kepler mission lifetime. Due to the singular configuration of the system, Kepler-1647b is not only the longest-period transiting CBP at the time of writing, but also one of the longest-period transiting planets. With a radius of 1.06 ± 0.01 R Jup , it is also the largest CBP to date. The planet produced three transits in the light curve of Kepler-1647 (one of them during an eclipse, creating a syzygy) and measurably perturbed the times of the stellar eclipses, allowing us to measure its mass, 1.52 ± 0.65 M Jup . The planet revolves around an 11-day period eclipsing binary consisting of two solar-mass stars on a slightly inclined, mildly eccentric ( e bin = 0.16), spin-synchronized orbit. Despite having an orbital period three times longer than Earth’s, Kepler-1647b is in the conservative habitable zone of the binary star throughout its orbit.

Validation of Kepler's multiple planet candidates. III. Light curve analysis and announcement of hundreds of new multi-planet systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rowe, Jason F.; Bryson, Stephen T.; Lissauer, Jack J.; Jontof-Hutter, Daniel; Mullally, Fergal; Howell, Steve B.; Borucki, William J.; Haas, Michael; Huber, Daniel; Thompson, Susan E.; Quintana, Elisa; Barclay, Thomas; Still, Martin; Marcy, Geoffrey W.; Issacson, Howard; Gilliland, Ronald L.; Ford, Eric; Steffen, Jason H.; Fortney, Jonathan; Gautier, T. N. III

2014-01-01

The Kepler mission has discovered more than 2500 exoplanet candidates in the first two years of spacecraft data, with approximately 40% of those in candidate multi-planet systems. The high rate of multiplicity combined with the low rate of identified false positives indicates that the multiplanet systems contain very few false positive signals due to other systems not gravitationally bound to the target star. False positives in the multi-planet systems are identified and removed, leaving behind a residual population of candidate multi-planet transiting systems expected to have a false positive rate less than 1%. We present a sample of 340 planetary systems that contain 851 planets that are validated to substantially better than the 99% confidence level; the vast majority of these have not been previously verified as planets. We expect ∼two unidentified false positives making our sample of planet very reliable. We present fundamental planetary properties of our sample based on a comprehensive analysis of Kepler light curves, ground-based spectroscopy, and high-resolution imaging. Since we do not require spectroscopy or high-resolution imaging for validation, some of our derived parameters for a planetary system may be systematically incorrect due to dilution from light due to additional stars in the photometric aperture. Nonetheless, our result nearly doubles the number verified exoplanets.

A POPULATION OF VERY HOT SUPER-EARTHS IN MULTIPLE-PLANET SYSTEMS SHOULD BE UNCOVERED BY KEPLER

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schlaufman, Kevin C.; Lin, D. N. C.; Ida, S.

2010-01-01

We simulate a Kepler-like observation of a theoretical exoplanet population and show that the observed orbital period distribution of the Kepler giant planet candidates is best matched by an average stellar specific dissipation function Q' * in the interval 10 6 ∼ * ∼ 7 . In that situation, the few super-Earths that are driven to orbital periods of P < 1 day by dynamical interactions in multiple-planet systems will survive tidal disruption for a significant fraction of the main-sequence lifetimes of their stellar hosts. Consequently, though these very hot super-Earths are not characteristic of the overall super-Earth population, their substantial transit probability implies that they should be significant contributors to the full super-Earth population uncovered by Kepler. As a result, the CoRoT-7 system may be the first representative of a population of very hot super-Earths that we suggest should be found in multiple-planet systems preferentially orbiting the least-dissipative stellar hosts in the Kepler sample.

Photometric Defocus Observations of Transiting Extrasolar Planets

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tobias C. Hinse

2015-03-01

Full Text Available We have carried out photometric follow-up observations of bright transiting extrasolar planets using the CbNUOJ 0.6 m telescope. We have tested the possibility of obtaining high photometric precision by applying the telescope defocus technique, allowing the use of several hundred seconds in exposure time for a single measurement. We demonstrate that this technique is capable of obtaining a root-mean-square scatter of sub-millimagnitude order over several hours for a V ~10 host star, typical for transiting planets detected from ground-based survey facilities. We compared our results with transit observations from a telescope operated in in-focus mode. High photometric precision was obtained due to the collection of a larger amount of photons, resulting in a higher signal compared to other random and systematic noise sources. Accurate telescope tracking is likely to further contribute to lowering systematic noise by exposing the same pixels on the CCD. Furthermore, a longer exposure time helps reduce the effect of scintillation noise which otherwise has a significant effect for small-aperture telescopes operated in in-focus mode. Finally we present the results of modelling four light-curves in which a root-mean-square scatter of 0.70 to 2.3 milli-magnitudes was achieved.

TRAPPIST-UCDTS: A prototype search for habitable planets transiting ultra-cool stars

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Magain P.

2013-04-01

Full Text Available The ∼1000 nearest ultra-cool stars (spectral type M6 and latter represent a unique opportunity for the search for life outside solar system. Due to their small luminosity, their habitable zone is 30–100 times closer than for the Sun, the corresponding orbital periods ranging from one to a few days. Thanks to this proximity, the transits of a habitable planet are much more probable and frequent than for an Earth-Sun analog, while their tiny size (∼1 Jupiter radius leads to transits deep enough for a ground-based detection, even for sub-Earth size planets. Furthermore, a habitable planet transiting one of these nearby ultra-cool star would be amenable for a thorough atmospheric characterization, including the detection of possible biosignatures, notably with the near-to-come JWST. Motivated by these reasons, we have set up the concept of a ground-based survey optimized for detecting planets of Earth-size and below transiting the nearest Southern ultra-cool stars. To assess thoroughly the actual potential of this future survey, we are currently conducting a prototype mini-survey using the TRAPPIST robotic 60cm telescope located at La Silla ESO Observatory (Chile. We summarize here the preliminary results of this mini-survey that fully validate our concept.

Follow-Up Photometry of Kelt Transiting Planet Candidates

Science.gov (United States)

Stephens, Denise C.; Joner, Michael D.; Hintz, Eric G.; Martin, Trevor; Spencer, Alex; Kelt Follow-Up Network (FUN) Team

2017-10-01

We have three telescopes at BYU that we use to follow-up possible transiting planet canidates for the KELT team. These telescopes were used to collect data on Kelt-16b and Kelt-9b, which is the hottest known exoplanet. More recently we used the newest of these telescopes, a robotic 8-inch telescope on the roof of our building, to confirm the most recent Kelt planet that will be published soon. This research has been ideal for the teaching and training of undergraduate students in the art of photometric observing and data reduction. In this presentation I will highlight how we are using our membership in the Kelt team to further the educational objective of our undergraduate astronomy program, while contributing meaningful science to the ever growing field of exoplanet discovery. I will also highlight a few of the more interesting Kelt planets and the minimum telescope requirements for detecting these planets. I will then discuss the sensitivities required to follow-up future TESS candidates, which may be of interest to others interested in joining the TESS follow-up teams.

Discovery of a transiting planet near the snow-line

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kipping, D. M.; Torres, G.; Buchhave, L. A.; Kenyon, S. J.; Henze, C.; Bryson, S. T.; Isaacson, H.; Kolbl, R.; Marcy, G. W.; Stassun, K.; Bastien, F.

2014-01-01

In most theories of planet formation, the snow-line represents a boundary between the emergence of the interior rocky planets and the exterior ice giants. The wide separation of the snow-line makes the discovery of transiting worlds challenging, yet transits would allow for detailed subsequent characterization. We present the discovery of Kepler-421b, a Uranus-sized exoplanet transiting a G9/K0 dwarf once every 704.2 days in a near-circular orbit. Using public Kepler photometry, we demonstrate that the two observed transits can be uniquely attributed to the 704.2 day period. Detailed light curve analysis with BLENDER validates the planetary nature of Kepler-421b to >4σ confidence. Kepler-421b receives the same insolation as a body at ∼2 AU in the solar system, as well as a Uranian albedo, which would have an effective temperature of ∼180 K. Using a time-dependent model for the protoplanetary disk, we estimate that Kepler-421b's present semi-major axis was beyond the snow-line after ∼3 Myr, indicating that Kepler-421b may have formed at its observed location.

Discovery of a transiting planet near the snow-line

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kipping, D. M.; Torres, G.; Buchhave, L. A.; Kenyon, S. J. [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Henze, C.; Bryson, S. T. [NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States); Isaacson, H.; Kolbl, R.; Marcy, G. W. [University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Stassun, K. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vanderbilt University, 1807 Station B, Nashville, TN 37235 (United States); Bastien, F., E-mail: dkipping@cfa.harvard.edu [Physics Department, Fisk University, 1000 17th Ave. N, Nashville, TN 37208 (United States)

2014-11-01

In most theories of planet formation, the snow-line represents a boundary between the emergence of the interior rocky planets and the exterior ice giants. The wide separation of the snow-line makes the discovery of transiting worlds challenging, yet transits would allow for detailed subsequent characterization. We present the discovery of Kepler-421b, a Uranus-sized exoplanet transiting a G9/K0 dwarf once every 704.2 days in a near-circular orbit. Using public Kepler photometry, we demonstrate that the two observed transits can be uniquely attributed to the 704.2 day period. Detailed light curve analysis with BLENDER validates the planetary nature of Kepler-421b to >4σ confidence. Kepler-421b receives the same insolation as a body at ∼2 AU in the solar system, as well as a Uranian albedo, which would have an effective temperature of ∼180 K. Using a time-dependent model for the protoplanetary disk, we estimate that Kepler-421b's present semi-major axis was beyond the snow-line after ∼3 Myr, indicating that Kepler-421b may have formed at its observed location.

A resonant chain of four transiting, sub-Neptune planets.

Science.gov (United States)

Mills, Sean M; Fabrycky, Daniel C; Migaszewski, Cezary; Ford, Eric B; Petigura, Erik; Isaacson, Howard

2016-05-26

Surveys have revealed many multi-planet systems containing super-Earths and Neptunes in orbits of a few days to a few months. There is debate whether in situ assembly or inward migration is the dominant mechanism of the formation of such planetary systems. Simulations suggest that migration creates tightly packed systems with planets whose orbital periods may be expressed as ratios of small integers (resonances), often in a many-planet series (chain). In the hundreds of multi-planet systems of sub-Neptunes, more planet pairs are observed near resonances than would generally be expected, but no individual system has hitherto been identified that must have been formed by migration. Proximity to resonance enables the detection of planets perturbing each other. Here we report transit timing variations of the four planets in the Kepler-223 system, model these variations as resonant-angle librations, and compute the long-term stability of the resonant chain. The architecture of Kepler-223 is too finely tuned to have been formed by scattering, and our numerical simulations demonstrate that its properties are natural outcomes of the migration hypothesis. Similar systems could be destabilized by any of several mechanisms, contributing to the observed orbital-period distribution, where many planets are not in resonances. Planetesimal interactions in particular are thought to be responsible for establishing the current orbits of the four giant planets in the Solar System by disrupting a theoretical initial resonant chain similar to that observed in Kepler-223.

TRANSITING PLANETS WITH LSST. II. PERIOD DETECTION OF PLANETS ORBITING 1 M{sub ⊙} HOSTS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jacklin, Savannah [Department of Astrophysics and Planetary Science, Villanova University, Villanova, PA 19085 (United States); Lund, Michael B.; Stassun, Keivan G. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235 (United States); Pepper, Joshua [Department of Physics, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA 18015 (United States)

2015-07-15

The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) will photometrically monitor ∼10{sup 9} stars for 10 years. The resulting light curves can be used to detect transiting exoplanets. In particular, as demonstrated by Lund et al., LSST will probe stellar populations currently undersampled in most exoplanet transit surveys, including out to extragalactic distances. In this paper we test the efficiency of the box-fitting least-squares (BLS) algorithm for accurately recovering the periods of transiting exoplanets using simulated LSST data. We model planets with a range of radii orbiting a solar-mass star at a distance of 7 kpc, with orbital periods ranging from 0.5 to 20 days. We find that standard-cadence LSST observations will be able to reliably recover the periods of Hot Jupiters with periods shorter than ∼3 days; however, it will remain a challenge to confidently distinguish these transiting planets from false positives. At the same time, we find that the LSST deep-drilling cadence is extremely powerful: the BLS algorithm successfully recovers at least 30% of sub-Saturn-size exoplanets with orbital periods as long as 20 days, and a simple BLS power criterion robustly distinguishes ∼98% of these from photometric (i.e., statistical) false positives.

Optimizing the search for transiting planets in long time series

Science.gov (United States)

Ofir, Aviv

2014-01-01

Context. Transit surveys, both ground- and space-based, have already accumulated a large number of light curves that span several years. Aims: The search for transiting planets in these long time series is computationally intensive. We wish to optimize the search for both detection and computational efficiencies. Methods: We assume that the searched systems can be described well by Keplerian orbits. We then propagate the effects of different system parameters to the detection parameters. Results: We show that the frequency information content of the light curve is primarily determined by the duty cycle of the transit signal, and thus the optimal frequency sampling is found to be cubic and not linear. Further optimization is achieved by considering duty-cycle dependent binning of the phased light curve. By using the (standard) BLS, one is either fairly insensitive to long-period planets or less sensitive to short-period planets and computationally slower by a significant factor of ~330 (for a 3 yr long dataset). We also show how the physical system parameters, such as the host star's size and mass, directly affect transit detection. This understanding can then be used to optimize the search for every star individually. Conclusions: By considering Keplerian dynamics explicitly rather than implicitly one can optimally search the BLS parameter space. The presented Optimal BLS enhances the detectability of both very short and very long period planets, while allowing such searches to be done with much reduced resources and time. The Matlab/Octave source code for Optimal BLS is made available. The MATLAB code is only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (ftp://130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/561/A138

Detection of Intermediate-Period Transiting Planets with a Network of Small Telescopes: transitsearch.org

Science.gov (United States)

Seagroves, Scott; Harker, Justin; Laughlin, Gregory; Lacy, Justin; Castellano, Tim

2003-12-01

We describe a project (transitsearch.org) currently attempting to discover transiting intermediate-period planets orbiting bright parent stars, and we simulate that project's performance. The discovery of such a transit would be an important astronomical advance, bridging the critical gap in understanding between HD 209458b and Jupiter. However, the task is made difficult by intrinsically low transit probabilities and small transit duty cycles. This project's efficient and economical strategy is to photometrically monitor stars that are known (from radial velocity surveys) to bear planets, using a network of widely spaced observers with small telescopes. These observers, each individually capable of precision (1%) differential photometry, monitor candidates during the time windows in which the radial velocity solution predicts a transit if the orbital inclination is close to 90°. We use Monte Carlo techniques to simulate the performance of this network, performing simulations with different configurations of observers in order to optimize coordination of an actual campaign. Our results indicate that transitsearch.org can reliably rule out or detect planetary transits within the current catalog of known planet-bearing stars. A distributed network of skilled amateur astronomers and small college observatories is a cost-effective method for discovering the small number of transiting planets with periods in the range 10 days

ON THE RELATIVE SIZES OF PLANETS WITHIN KEPLER MULTIPLE-CANDIDATE SYSTEMS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ciardi, David R.; Fabrycky, Daniel C.; Ford, Eric B.; Ragozzine, Darin; Gautier, T. N. III; Howell, Steve B.; Lissauer, Jack J.; Rowe, Jason F.

2013-01-01

We present a study of the relative sizes of planets within the multiple-candidate systems discovered with the Kepler mission. We have compared the size of each planet to the size of every other planet within a given planetary system after correcting the sample for detection and geometric biases. We find that for planet pairs for which one or both objects are approximately Neptune-sized or larger, the larger planet is most often the planet with the longer period. No such size-location correlation is seen for pairs of planets when both planets are smaller than Neptune. Specifically, if at least one planet in a planet pair has a radius of ∼> 3 R ⊕ , 68% ± 6% of the planet pairs have the inner planet smaller than the outer planet, while no preferred sequential ordering of the planets is observed if both planets in a pair are smaller than ∼ ⊕ .

A Spitzer Infrared Radius for the Transiting Extrasolar Planet HD 209458 b

Science.gov (United States)

Richardson, L. Jeremy; Harrington, Joseph; Seager, Sara; Deming, Drake

2007-01-01

We have measured the infrared transit of the extrasolar planet HD 209458 b using the Spitzer Space Telescope. We observed two primary eclipse events (one partial and one complete transit) using the 24 micrometer array of the Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer (MIPS). We analyzed a total of 2392 individual images (10-second integrations) of the planetary system, recorded before, during, and after transit. We perform optimal photometry on the images and use the local zodiacal light as a short-term flux reference. At this long wavelength, the transit curve has a simple box-like shape, allowing robust solutions for the stellar and planetary radii independent of stellar limb darkening, which is negligible at 24 micrometers. We derive a stellar radius of R(sub *) = 1.06 plus or minus 0.07 solar radius, a planetary radius of R(sub p) = 1.26 plus or minus 0.08 R(sub J), and a stellar mass of 1.17 solar mass. Within the errors, our results agree with the measurements at visible wavelengths. The 24 micrometer radius of the planet therefore does not differ significantly compared to the visible result. We point out the potential for deriving extrasolar transiting planet radii to high accuracy using transit photometry at slightly shorter IR wavelengths where greater photometric precision is possible.

OBJECTS IN KEPLER'S MIRROR MAY BE LARGER THAN THEY APPEAR: BIAS AND SELECTION EFFECTS IN TRANSITING PLANET SURVEYS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gaidos, Eric; Mann, Andrew W.

2013-01-01

Statistical analyses of large surveys for transiting planets such as the Kepler mission must account for systematic errors and biases. Transit detection depends not only on the planet's radius and orbital period, but also on host star properties. Thus, a sample of stars with transiting planets may not accurately represent the target population. Moreover, targets are selected using criteria such as a limiting apparent magnitude. These selection effects, combined with uncertainties in stellar radius, lead to biases in the properties of transiting planets and their host stars. We quantify possible biases in the Kepler survey. First, Eddington bias produced by a steep planet radius distribution and uncertainties in stellar radius results in a 15%-20% overestimate of planet occurrence. Second, the magnitude limit of the Kepler target catalog induces Malmquist bias toward large, more luminous stars and underestimation of the radii of about one-third of candidate planets, especially those larger than Neptune. Third, because metal-poor stars are smaller, stars with detected planets will be very slightly (<0.02 dex) more metal-poor than the target average. Fourth, uncertainties in stellar radii produce correlated errors in planet radius and stellar irradiation. A previous finding, that highly irradiated giants are more likely to have 'inflated' radii, remains significant, even accounting for this effect. In contrast, transit depth is negatively correlated with stellar metallicity even in the absence of any intrinsic correlation, and a previous claim of a negative correlation between giant planet transit depth and stellar metallicity is probably an artifact.

High-Cadence Transit Timing Variation Monitoring of Extrasolar Planets

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Naef D.

2011-02-01

Full Text Available We report ground-based high-cadence transit timing observations of the extrasolar planet WASP-2b. We achieve a typical timing error of 15-30 sec. The data show no significant deviations from the predicted ephemeris.

MULTIPLE-PLANET SCATTERING AND THE ORIGIN OF HOT JUPITERS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beaugé, C.; Nesvorný, D.

2012-01-01

Doppler and transit observations of exoplanets show a pile-up of Jupiter-size planets in orbits with a 3 day period. A fraction of these hot Jupiters have retrograde orbits with respect to the parent star's rotation, as evidenced by the measurements of the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect. To explain these observations we performed a series of numerical integrations of planet scattering followed by the tidal circularization and migration of planets that evolved into highly eccentric orbits. We considered planetary systems having three and four planets initially placed in successive mean-motion resonances, although the angles were taken randomly to ensure orbital instability in short timescales. The simulations included the tidal and relativistic effects, and precession due to stellar oblateness. Our results show the formation of two distinct populations of hot Jupiters. The inner population (Population I) is characterized by semimajor axis a 1 Gyr and fits nicely the observed 3 day pile-up. A comparison between our three-planet and four-planet runs shows that the formation of hot Jupiters is more likely in systems with more initial planets. Due to the large-scale chaoticity that dominates the evolution, high eccentricities and/or high inclinations are generated mainly by close encounters between the planets and not by secular perturbations (Kozai or otherwise). The relative proportion of retrograde planets seems of be dependent on the stellar age. Both the distribution of almost aligned systems and the simulated 3 day pile-up also fit observations better in our four-planet simulations. This may suggest that the planetary systems with observed hot Jupiters were originally rich in the number of planets, some of which were ejected. In a broad perspective, our work therefore hints on an unexpected link between the hot Jupiters and recently discovered free floating planets.

KOI-142, the king of transit variations, is a pair of planets near the 2:1 resonance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nesvorný, David; Kipping, David; Terrell, Dirk

2013-01-01

The transit timing variations (TTVs) can be used as a diagnostic of gravitational interactions between planets in a multi-planet system. Many Kepler Objects of Interest (KOIs) exhibit significant TTVs, but KOI-142.01 stands out among them with an unrivaled ≃12 hr TTV amplitude. Here we report...... mass inferred from the transit variations is consistent with the measured transit depth, suggesting a Neptune-class planet (KOI-142b). The orbital period ratio P /P = 2.03 indicates that the two planets are just wide of the 2:1 resonance. The present dynamics of this system, characterized here...

TRANSIT MODEL OF PLANETS WITH MOON AND RING SYSTEMS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tusnski, Luis Ricardo M.; Valio, Adriana

2011-01-01

Since the discovery of the first exoplanets, those most adequate for life to begin and evolve have been sought. Due to observational bias, however, most of the discovered planets so far are gas giants, precluding their habitability. However, if these hot Jupiters are located in the habitable zones of their host stars, and if rocky moons orbit them, then these moons may be habitable. In this work, we present a model for planetary transit simulation considering the presence of moons and planetary rings around a planet. The moon's orbit is considered to be circular and coplanar with the planetary orbit. The other physical and orbital parameters of the star, planet, moon, and rings can be adjusted in each simulation. It is possible to simulate as many successive transits as desired. Since the presence of spots on the surface of the star may produce a signal similar to that of the presence of a moon, our model also allows for the inclusion of starspots. The result of the simulation is a light curve with a planetary transit. White noise may also be added to the light curves to produce curves similar to those obtained by the CoRoT and Kepler space telescopes. The goal is to determine the criteria for detectability of moons and/or ring systems using photometry. The results show that it is possible to detect moons with radii as little as 1.3 R ⊕ with CoRoT and 0.3 R ⊕ with Kepler.

Transit Duration Variations due to Secular Interactions in Systems with Tightly-packed Inner Planets

Science.gov (United States)

Boley, Aaron; Van Laerhoven, Christa; Granados Contreras, A. Paula

2018-04-01

Secular interactions among planets in multi-planet systems will lead to variations in orbital inclinations and to the precession of orbital nodes. Taking known system architectures at face value, we calculate orbital precession rates for planets in tightly-packed systems using classical second-order secular theory, in which the orientation of the orbits can be described as a vector sum of eigenmodes and the eigenstructure is determined only by the masses and semi-major axes of the planets. Using this framework, we identify systems that have fast precession frequencies, and use those systems to explore the range of transit duration variation that could occur using amplitudes that are consistent with tightly-packed planetary systems. We then further assess how transit duration variations could be used in practice.

A Search for Lost Planets in the Kepler Multi-Planet Systems and the Discovery of the Long-Period, Neptune-Sized Exoplanet Kepler-150 f

Science.gov (United States)

Schmitt, Joseph R.; Jenkins, Jon M.; Fischer, Debra A.

2017-01-01

The vast majority of the 4700 confirmed planets and planet candidates discovered by the Kepler space telescope were first found by the Kepler pipeline. In the pipeline, after a transit signal is found, all data points associated with those transits are removed, creating a Swiss cheese-like light curve full of holes, which is then used for subsequent transit searches. These holes could render an additional planet undetectable (or lost). We examine a sample of 114 stars with 3+ confirmed planets to see the effect that this Swiss cheesing may have. A simulation determined that the probability that a transiting planet is lost due to the transit masking is low, but non-neglible, reaching a plateau at approximately 3.3% lost in the period range of P = 400 - 500 days. We then model the transits in all quarters of each star and subtract out the transit signals, restoring the in-transit data points, and use the Kepler pipeline to search the transit-subtracted (i.e., transit-cleaned) light curves. However, the pipeline did not discover any credible new transit signals. This demonstrates the validity and robustness of the Kepler pipelines choice to use transit masking over transit subtraction. However, a follow-up visual search through all the transit-subtracted data, which allows for easier visual identification of new transits, revealed the existence of a new, Neptune-sized exoplanet. Kepler-150 f (P = 637.2 days, RP = 3.86 R earth) is confirmed using a combination of false positive probability analysis, transit duration analysis, and the planet multiplicity argument.

A SEARCH FOR LOST PLANETS IN THE KEPLER MULTI-PLANET SYSTEMS AND THE DISCOVERY OF A LONG PERIOD, NEPTUNE-SIZED EXOPLANET KEPLER-150 F.

Science.gov (United States)

Schmitt, Joseph R; Jenkins, Jon M; Fischer, Debra A

2017-04-01

The vast majority of the 4700 confirmed planets and planet candidates discovered by the Kepler space telescope were first found by the Kepler pipeline. In the pipeline, after a transit signal is found, all data points associated with those transits are removed, creating a "Swiss cheese"-like light curve full of holes, which is then used for subsequent transit searches. These holes could render an additional planet undetectable (or "lost"). We examine a sample of 114 stars with 3+ confirmed planets to see the effect that this "Swiss cheesing" may have. A simulation determined that the probability that a transiting planet is lost due to the transit masking is low, but non-neglible, reaching a plateau at ~3.3% lost in the period range of P = 400 - 500 days. We then model the transits in all quarters of each star and subtract out the transit signals, restoring the in-transit data points, and use the Kepler pipeline to search the transit-subtracted (i.e., transit-cleaned) light curves. However, the pipeline did not discover any credible new transit signals. This demonstrates the validity and robustness of the Kepler pipeline's choice to use transit masking over transit subtraction. However, a follow-up visual search through all the transit-subtracted data, which allows for easier visual identification of new transits, revealed the existence of a new, Neptune-sized exoplanet. Kepler-150 f ( P = 637.2 days, R P = 3.86 R ⊕ ) is confirmed using a combination of false positive probability analysis, transit duration analysis, and the planet multiplicity argument.

PLANET HUNTERS: ASSESSING THE KEPLER INVENTORY OF SHORT-PERIOD PLANETS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schwamb, Megan E.; Lintott, Chris J.; Lynn, Stuart; Smith, Arfon M.; Simpson, Robert J.; Fischer, Debra A.; Giguere, Matthew J.; Brewer, John M.; Parrish, Michael; Schawinski, Kevin

2012-01-01

We present the results from a search of data from the first 33.5 days of the Kepler science mission (Quarter 1) for exoplanet transits by the Planet Hunters citizen science project. Planet Hunters enlists members of the general public to visually identify transits in the publicly released Kepler light curves via the World Wide Web. Over 24,000 volunteers reviewed the Kepler Quarter 1 data set. We examine the abundance of ≥2 R ⊕ planets on short-period ( ⊕ Planet Hunters ≥85% efficient at identifying transit signals for planets with periods less than 15 days for the Kepler sample of target stars. Our high efficiency rate for simulated transits along with recovery of the majority of Kepler ≥4 R ⊕ planets suggests that the Kepler inventory of ≥4 R ⊕ short-period planets is nearly complete.

Planet Hunters 2 in the K2 Era

Science.gov (United States)

Schwamb, Megan E.; Fischer, Debra; Boyajian, Tabetha S.; Giguere, Matthew J.; Ishikawa, Sascha; Lintott, Chris; Lynn, Stuart; Schmitt, Joseph; Snyder, Chris; Wang, Ji; Barclay, Thomas

2015-01-01

Planet Hunters (http://www.planethunters.org) is an online citizen science project enlisting hundreds of thousands of people to search for planet transits in the publicly released Kepler data. Volunteers mark the locations of visible transits in a web interface, with multiple independent classifiers reviewing a randomly selected ~30-day light curve segment. In September 2014, Planet Hunters entered a new phase. The project was relaunched with a brand new online classification interface and discussion tool built using the Zooniverse's (http://www.zooniverse.org) latest technology and web platform. The website has been optimized for the rapid discovery and identification of planet candidates in the light curves from K2, the two-wheeled ecliptic plane Kepler mission. We will give an overview of the new Planet Hunters classification interface and Round 2 review system in context of the K2 data. We will present the first results from the Planet Hunters 2 search of K2 Campaigns 0 and 1 including a summary of new planet candidates.

Discovery of Temperate Earth-Sized Planets Transiting a Nearby Ultracool Dwarf Star

Science.gov (United States)

Jehin, Emmanuel; Gillon, Michael; Lederer, Susan M.; Delrez, Laetitia; De Wit, Julien; Burdanov, Artem; Van Grootel, Valerie; Burgasser, Adam; Triaud, Amaury; Demory, Brice-Olivier;

Three small transiting planets around the M-dwarf host star LP 358-499

Science.gov (United States)

Wells, R.; Poppenhaeger, K.; Watson, C. A.

2018-01-01

We report on the detection of three transiting small planets around the low-mass star LP 358-499 (K2-133), using photometric data from the Kepler-K2 mission. Using multiband photometry, we determine the host star to be an early M dwarf with an age likely older than a gigayear. The three detected planets K2-133 b, c and d have orbital periods of ca. 3, 4.9 and 11 d and transit depths of ca. 700, 1000 and 2000 ppm, respectively. We also report a planetary candidate EPIC 247887989.01 with a period of 26.6 d and a depth of ca. 1000 ppm, which may be at the inner edge of the stellar habitable zone, depending on the specific host star properties. Using the transit parameters and the stellar properties, we estimate that the innermost planet may be rocky. The system is suited for follow-up observations to measure planetary masses and JWST transmission spectra of planetary atmospheres.

TRANSIT TIMING OBSERVATIONS FROM KEPLER. V. TRANSIT TIMING VARIATION CANDIDATES IN THE FIRST SIXTEEN MONTHS FROM POLYNOMIAL MODELS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ford, Eric B. [Astronomy Department, University of Florida, 211 Bryant Space Sciences Center, Gainesville, FL 32111 (United States); Ragozzine, Darin; Holman, Matthew J. [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Rowe, Jason F.; Barclay, Thomas; Borucki, William J.; Bryson, Stephen T.; Caldwell, Douglas A.; Kinemuchi, Karen; Koch, David G.; Lissauer, Jack J.; Still, Martin; Tenenbaum, Peter [NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States); Steffen, Jason H. [Fermilab Center for Particle Astrophysics, P.O. Box 500, MS 127, Batavia, IL 60510 (United States); Batalha, Natalie M. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA 95192 (United States); Fabrycky, Daniel C. [UCO/Lick Observatory, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 (United States); Gautier, Thomas N. [Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States); Ibrahim, Khadeejah A.; Uddin, Kamal [Orbital Sciences Corporation/NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States); Kjeldsen, Hans, E-mail: eford@astro.ufl.edu [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, DK-8000 Aarhus C (Denmark); and others

2012-09-10

Transit timing variations provide a powerful tool for confirming and characterizing transiting planets, as well as detecting non-transiting planets. We report the results of an updated transit timing variation (TTV) analysis for 1481 planet candidates based on transit times measured during the first sixteen months of Kepler observations. We present 39 strong TTV candidates based on long-term trends (2.8% of suitable data sets). We present another 136 weaker TTV candidates (9.8% of suitable data sets) based on the excess scatter of TTV measurements about a linear ephemeris. We anticipate that several of these planet candidates could be confirmed and perhaps characterized with more detailed TTV analyses using publicly available Kepler observations. For many others, Kepler has observed a long-term TTV trend, but an extended Kepler mission will be required to characterize the system via TTVs. We find that the occurrence rate of planet candidates that show TTVs is significantly increased ({approx}68%) for planet candidates transiting stars with multiple transiting planet candidates when compared to planet candidates transiting stars with a single transiting planet candidate.

THE ROLE OF MULTIPLICITY IN DISK EVOLUTION AND PLANET FORMATION

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kraus, Adam L. [Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Dr., Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States); Ireland, Michael J. [Sydney Institute for Astronomy (SIfA), School of Physics, University of Sydney, NSW 2006 (Australia); Hillenbrand, Lynne A. [California Institute of Technology, Department of Astrophysics, MC 249-17, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Martinache, Frantz [National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Subaru Telescope, Hilo, HI 96720 (United States)

2012-01-20

The past decade has seen a revolution in our understanding of protoplanetary disk evolution and planet formation in single-star systems. However, the majority of solar-type stars form in binary systems, so the impact of binary companions on protoplanetary disks is an important element in our understanding of planet formation. We have compiled a combined multiplicity/disk census of Taurus-Auriga, plus a restricted sample of close binaries in other regions, in order to explore the role of multiplicity in disk evolution. Our results imply that the tidal influence of a close ({approx}<40 AU) binary companion significantly hastens the process of protoplanetary disk dispersal, as {approx}2/3 of all close binaries promptly disperse their disks within {approx}<1 Myr after formation. However, prompt disk dispersal only occurs for a small fraction of wide binaries and single stars, with {approx}80%-90% retaining their disks for at least {approx}2-3 Myr (but rarely for more than {approx}5 Myr). Our new constraints on the disk clearing timescale have significant implications for giant planet formation; most single stars have 3-5 Myr within which to form giant planets, whereas most close binary systems would have to form giant planets within {approx}<1 Myr. If core accretion is the primary mode for giant planet formation, then gas giants in close binaries should be rare. Conversely, since almost all single stars have a similar period of time within which to form gas giants, their relative rarity in radial velocity (RV) surveys indicates either that the giant planet formation timescale is very well matched to the disk dispersal timescale or that features beyond the disk lifetime set the likelihood of giant planet formation.

Temperate Earth-sized planets transiting a nearby ultracool dwarf star.

Science.gov (United States)

Gillon, Michaël; Jehin, Emmanuël; Lederer, Susan M; Delrez, Laetitia; de Wit, Julien; Burdanov, Artem; Van Grootel, Valérie; Burgasser, Adam J; Triaud, Amaury H M J; Opitom, Cyrielle; Demory, Brice-Olivier; Sahu, Devendra K; Bardalez Gagliuffi, Daniella; Magain, Pierre; Queloz, Didier

2016-05-12

Star-like objects with effective temperatures of less than 2,700 kelvin are referred to as 'ultracool dwarfs'. This heterogeneous group includes stars of extremely low mass as well as brown dwarfs (substellar objects not massive enough to sustain hydrogen fusion), and represents about 15 per cent of the population of astronomical objects near the Sun. Core-accretion theory predicts that, given the small masses of these ultracool dwarfs, and the small sizes of their protoplanetary disks, there should be a large but hitherto undetected population of terrestrial planets orbiting them--ranging from metal-rich Mercury-sized planets to more hospitable volatile-rich Earth-sized planets. Here we report observations of three short-period Earth-sized planets transiting an ultracool dwarf star only 12 parsecs away. The inner two planets receive four times and two times the irradiation of Earth, respectively, placing them close to the inner edge of the habitable zone of the star. Our data suggest that 11 orbits remain possible for the third planet, the most likely resulting in irradiation significantly less than that received by Earth. The infrared brightness of the host star, combined with its Jupiter-like size, offers the possibility of thoroughly characterizing the components of this nearby planetary system.

Constraints on Neutral Hydrogen Outflow from the Warm Rocky Planet GJ1132b using Lyman-alpha Transit Observations

Science.gov (United States)

Waalkes, William; Berta-Thompson, Zachory; Charbonneau, David; Irwin, Jonathan; Newton, Elisabeth; Dittmann, Jason; Bourrier, Vincent; Ehrenreich, David; Kempton, Eliza

2018-01-01

GJ1132b is one of the few known Earth-sized planets, and at 12 pc away it is also one of the closest known transiting planets. With an equilibrium temperature of 500 K, this planet is too hot to be habitable but we can use it to learn about the presence and volatile content of rocky planet atmospheres around M dwarf stars. Using Hubble STIS spectra during primary transit, we explore the potential for UV transit detections of GJ1132b. If we were to observe a deep Lyman-α transit, that would indicate the presence of a neutral hydrogen envelope flowing from GJ1132b. On the other hand, ruling out deep absorption from neutral hydrogen may indicate that this planet has either retained its volatiles or lost them very early in the star’s life. We carry out this analysis by extracting 1D spectra from the STIS pipeline, splitting the time-tagged spectra into higher resolution samples, and producing light curves of the red and blue wings of the Lyman-α line. We fit for the baseline stellar flux and transit depths in order to constrain the characteristics of the cloud of neutral hydrogen gas that may surround the planet. Our work extends beyond the transit study into an analysis of the stellar variability and Lyman-α spectrum of GJ1132, a slowly-rotating 0.18 MSun M dwarf with previously uncharacterized UV activity. Understanding the role that UV variability plays in planetary atmospheres and volatile retention is crucial to assess atmospheric evolution and the habitability of cooler rocky planets.

TRANSITIONAL DISKS AS SIGNPOSTS OF YOUNG, MULTIPLANET SYSTEMS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dodson-Robinson, Sarah E.; Salyk, Colette

2011-01-01

Although there has yet been no undisputed discovery of a still-forming planet embedded in a gaseous protoplanetary disk, the cleared inner holes of transitional disks may be signposts of young planets. Here, we show that the subset of accreting transitional disks with wide, optically thin inner holes of 15 AU or more can only be sculpted by multiple planets orbiting inside each hole. Multiplanet systems provide two key ingredients for explaining the origins of transitional disks. First, multiple planets can clear wide inner holes where single planets open only narrow gaps. Second, the confined, non-axisymmetric accretion flows produced by multiple planets provide a way for an arbitrary amount of mass transfer to occur through an apparently optically thin hole without overproducing infrared excess flux. Rather than assuming that the gas and dust in the hole are evenly and axisymmetrically distributed, one can construct an inner hole with apparently optically thin infrared fluxes by covering a macroscopic fraction of the hole's surface area with locally optically thick tidal tails. We also establish that other clearing mechanisms, such as photoevaporation, cannot explain our subset of accreting transitional disks with wide holes. Transitional disks are therefore high-value targets for observational searches for young planetary systems.

Densities and eccentricities of 139 Kepler planets from transit time variations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hadden, Sam; Lithwick, Yoram [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208 (United States)

2014-05-20

We extract densities and eccentricities of 139 sub-Jovian planets by analyzing transit time variations (TTVs) obtained by the Kepler mission through Quarter 12. We partially circumvent the degeneracies that plague TTV inversion with the help of an analytical formula for the TTV. From the observed TTV phases, we find that most of these planets have eccentricities of the order of a few percent. More precisely, the rms eccentricity is 0.018{sub −0.004}{sup +0.005}, and planets smaller than 2.5 R {sub ⊕} are around twice as eccentric as those bigger than 2.5 R {sub ⊕}. We also find a best-fit density-radius relationship ρ ≈ 3 g cm{sup –3} × (R/3 R {sub ⊕}){sup –2.3} for the 56 planets that likely have small eccentricity and hence small statistical correction to their masses. Many planets larger than 2.5 R {sub ⊕} are less dense than water, implying that their radii are largely set by a massive hydrogen atmosphere.

Kepler Planet Detection Metrics: Per-Target Flux-Level Transit Injection Tests of TPS for Data Release 25

Science.gov (United States)

Burke, Christopher J.; Catanzarite, Joseph

2017-01-01

Quantifying the ability of a transiting planet survey to recover transit signals has commonly been accomplished through Monte-Carlo injection of transit signals into the observed data and subsequent running of the signal search algorithm (Gilliland et al., 2000; Weldrake et al., 2005; Burke et al., 2006). In order to characterize the performance of the Kepler pipeline (Twicken et al., 2016; Jenkins et al., 2017) on a sample of over 200,000 stars, two complementary injection and recovery tests are utilized:1. Injection of a single transit signal per target into the image or pixel-level data, hereafter referred to as pixel-level transit injection (PLTI), with subsequent processing through the Photometric Analysis (PA), Presearch Data Conditioning (PDC), Transiting Planet Search (TPS), and Data Validation (DV) modules of the Kepler pipeline. The PLTI quantification of the Kepler pipeline's completeness has been described previously by Christiansen et al. (2015, 2016); the completeness of the final SOC 9.3 Kepler pipeline acting on the Data Release 25 (DR25) light curves is described by Christiansen (2017).2. Injection of multiple transit signals per target into the normalized flux time series data with a subsequent transit search using a stream-lined version of the Transiting Planet Search (TPS) module. This test, hereafter referred to as flux-level transit injection (FLTI), is the subject of this document. By running a heavily modified version of TPS, FLTI is able to perform many injections on selected targets and determine in some detail which injected signals are recoverable. Significant numerical efficiency gains are enabled by precomputing the data conditioning steps at the onset of TPS and limiting the search parameter space (i.e., orbital period, transit duration, and ephemeris zero-point) to a small region around each injected transit signal.The PLTI test has the advantage that it follows transit signals through all processing steps of the Kepler pipeline, and

THE PTF ORION PROJECT: A POSSIBLE PLANET TRANSITING A T-TAURI STAR

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van Eyken, Julian C.; Ciardi, David R.; Von Braun, Kaspar; Kane, Stephen R.; Plavchan, Peter; Akeson, Rachel L.; Beichman, Charles A.; Gelino, Dawn M.; Bender, Chad F.; Mahadevan, Suvrath; Brown, Timothy M.; Fulton, Benjamin J.; Shporer, Avi; Crepp, Justin R.; Howard, Andrew W.; Marcy, Geoffrey W.; Howell, Steve B.; Szkody, Paula; Boden, Andrew F.; Hoard, D. W.

2012-01-01

We report observations of a possible young transiting planet orbiting a previously known weak-lined T-Tauri star in the 7-10 Myr old Orion-OB1a/25-Ori region. The candidate was found as part of the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) Orion project. It has a photometric transit period of 0.448413 ± 0.000040 days, and appears in both 2009 and 2010 PTF data. Follow-up low-precision radial velocity (RV) observations and adaptive optics imaging suggest that the star is not an eclipsing binary, and that it is unlikely that a background source is blended with the target and mimicking the observed transit. RV observations with the Hobby-Eberly and Keck telescopes yield an RV that has the same period as the photometric event, but is offset in phase from the transit center by ≈ – 0.22 periods. The amplitude (half range) of the RV variations is 2.4 km s –1 and is comparable with the expected RV amplitude that stellar spots could induce. The RV curve is likely dominated by stellar spot modulation and provides an upper limit to the projected companion mass of M p sin i orb ∼ Jup ; when combined with the orbital inclination, i orb , of the candidate planet from modeling of the transit light curve, we find an upper limit on the mass of the planetary candidate of M p ∼ Jup . This limit implies that the planet is orbiting close to, if not inside, its Roche limiting orbital radius, so that it may be undergoing active mass loss and evaporation.

THE PHOTOECCENTRIC EFFECT AND PROTO-HOT JUPITERS. I. MEASURING PHOTOMETRIC ECCENTRICITIES OF INDIVIDUAL TRANSITING PLANETS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dawson, Rebekah I.; Johnson, John Asher

2012-01-01

Exoplanet orbital eccentricities offer valuable clues about the history of planetary systems. Eccentric, Jupiter-sized planets are particularly interesting: they may link the 'cold' Jupiters beyond the ice line to close-in hot Jupiters, which are unlikely to have formed in situ. To date, eccentricities of individual transiting planets primarily come from radial-velocity measurements. Kepler has discovered hundreds of transiting Jupiters spanning a range of periods, but the faintness of the host stars precludes radial-velocity follow-up of most. Here, we demonstrate a Bayesian method of measuring an individual planet's eccentricity solely from its transit light curve using prior knowledge of its host star's density. We show that eccentric Jupiters are readily identified by their short ingress/egress/total transit durations—part of the 'photoeccentric' light curve signature of a planet's eccentricity—even with long-cadence Kepler photometry and loosely constrained stellar parameters. A Markov Chain Monte Carlo exploration of parameter posteriors naturally marginalizes over the periapse angle and automatically accounts for the transit probability. To demonstrate, we use three published transit light curves of HD 17156 b to measure an eccentricity of e = 0.71 +0.16 –0.09 , in good agreement with the discovery value e = 0.67 ± 0.08 based on 33 radial-velocity measurements. We present two additional tests using Kepler data. In each case, the technique proves to be a viable method of measuring exoplanet eccentricities and their confidence intervals. Finally, we argue that this method is the most efficient, effective means of identifying the extremely eccentric, proto-hot Jupiters predicted by Socrates et al.

THE PTF ORION PROJECT: A POSSIBLE PLANET TRANSITING A T-TAURI STAR

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Van Eyken, Julian C.; Ciardi, David R.; Von Braun, Kaspar; Kane, Stephen R.; Plavchan, Peter; Akeson, Rachel L.; Beichman, Charles A.; Gelino, Dawn M. [NASA Exoplanet Science Institute, California Institute of Technology, 770 South Wilson Avenue, M/S 100-22, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Bender, Chad F.; Mahadevan, Suvrath [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 (United States); Brown, Timothy M.; Fulton, Benjamin J.; Shporer, Avi [Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope, Goleta, CA 93117 (United States); Crepp, Justin R. [Cahill Center for Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Howard, Andrew W.; Marcy, Geoffrey W. [Department of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3411 (United States); Howell, Steve B. [NASA Ames Research Center, M/S 244-30, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States); Szkody, Paula [Department of Astronomy, University of Washington, Box 351580, Seattle, WA 98195 (United States); Boden, Andrew F. [Caltech Optical Observatories, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Hoard, D. W., E-mail: vaneyken@ipac.caltech.edu [Spitzer Science Center, M/S 220-6, California Institute of Technology, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); and others

2012-08-10

We report observations of a possible young transiting planet orbiting a previously known weak-lined T-Tauri star in the 7-10 Myr old Orion-OB1a/25-Ori region. The candidate was found as part of the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) Orion project. It has a photometric transit period of 0.448413 {+-} 0.000040 days, and appears in both 2009 and 2010 PTF data. Follow-up low-precision radial velocity (RV) observations and adaptive optics imaging suggest that the star is not an eclipsing binary, and that it is unlikely that a background source is blended with the target and mimicking the observed transit. RV observations with the Hobby-Eberly and Keck telescopes yield an RV that has the same period as the photometric event, but is offset in phase from the transit center by Almost-Equal-To - 0.22 periods. The amplitude (half range) of the RV variations is 2.4 km s{sup -1} and is comparable with the expected RV amplitude that stellar spots could induce. The RV curve is likely dominated by stellar spot modulation and provides an upper limit to the projected companion mass of M{sub p}sin i{sub orb} {approx}< 4.8 {+-} 1.2 M{sub Jup}; when combined with the orbital inclination, i{sub orb}, of the candidate planet from modeling of the transit light curve, we find an upper limit on the mass of the planetary candidate of M{sub p} {approx}< 5.5 {+-} 1.4 M{sub Jup}. This limit implies that the planet is orbiting close to, if not inside, its Roche limiting orbital radius, so that it may be undergoing active mass loss and evaporation.

Characterization of extra-solar planets and their atmospheres (Spectroscopy of transits and atmospheric escape)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bourrier, Vincent

2014-01-01

Hot Jupiters are exo-planets so close to their star that their atmosphere can lose gas because of hydrodynamic escape. Transiting gaseous giants are an excellent way to understand this mechanism, but it is necessary to study other types of planets to determine its impact on the exo-planetary population. This thesis aims at using transit spectroscopy to observe the atmosphere of several exo-planets, to study their properties and to contribute to the characterization of hydrodynamic escape. UV lines observed with the Hubble telescope are analyzed with the numerical model of upper atmospheres we developed. Using the Ly-α line we identify energetic and dynamical interactions between the atmospheres of the hot Jupiters HD209458b and HD189733b and their stars. We study the dependence of the escape on the environment of a planet and on its physical properties, through the observation of a super-Earth and a warm Jupiter in the 55 Cnc system. Using observations of HD209458b, we show that magnesium lines are a window on the region of formation of hydrodynamic escape. We study the potential of transit spectroscopy in the near-UV to detect new cases of atmospheric escape. This mechanism is fostered by the proximity of a planet to its star, which makes it even more important to understand the formation and migration processes that can be traced in the alignment of a planetary system. Using measures from the spectrographs HARPS-N and SOPHIE we study the alignments of 55 Cnc e and the Kepler candidate KOI 12.01, whose planetary nature we also seek to validate. (author)

Transit Timing Observations from Kepler: II. Confirmation of Two Multiplanet Systems via a Non-parametric Correlation Analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ford, Eric B.; /Florida U.; Fabrycky, Daniel C.; /Lick Observ.; Steffen, Jason H.; /Fermilab; Carter, Joshua A.; /Harvard-Smithsonian Ctr. Astrophys.; Fressin, Francois; /Harvard-Smithsonian Ctr. Astrophys.; Holman, Matthew J.; /Harvard-Smithsonian Ctr. Astrophys.; Lissauer, Jack J.; /NASA, Ames; Moorhead, Althea V.; /Florida U.; Morehead, Robert C.; /Florida U.; Ragozzine, Darin; /Harvard-Smithsonian Ctr. Astrophys.; Rowe, Jason F.; /NASA, Ames /SETI Inst., Mtn. View /San Diego State U., Astron. Dept.

2012-01-01

We present a new method for confirming transiting planets based on the combination of transit timing variations (TTVs) and dynamical stability. Correlated TTVs provide evidence that the pair of bodies are in the same physical system. Orbital stability provides upper limits for the masses of the transiting companions that are in the planetary regime. This paper describes a non-parametric technique for quantifying the statistical significance of TTVs based on the correlation of two TTV data sets. We apply this method to an analysis of the transit timing variations of two stars with multiple transiting planet candidates identified by Kepler. We confirm four transiting planets in two multiple planet systems based on their TTVs and the constraints imposed by dynamical stability. An additional three candidates in these same systems are not confirmed as planets, but are likely to be validated as real planets once further observations and analyses are possible. If all were confirmed, these systems would be near 4:6:9 and 2:4:6:9 period commensurabilities. Our results demonstrate that TTVs provide a powerful tool for confirming transiting planets, including low-mass planets and planets around faint stars for which Doppler follow-up is not practical with existing facilities. Continued Kepler observations will dramatically improve the constraints on the planet masses and orbits and provide sensitivity for detecting additional non-transiting planets. If Kepler observations were extended to eight years, then a similar analysis could likely confirm systems with multiple closely spaced, small transiting planets in or near the habitable zone of solar-type stars.

KEPLER-7b: A TRANSITING PLANET WITH UNUSUALLY LOW DENSITY

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Latham, David W.; Buchhave, Lars A.; Furesz, Gabor; Geary, John C.; Borucki, William J.; Koch, David G.; Lissauer, Jack J.; Rowe, Jason F.; Brown, Timothy M.; Basri, Gibor; Batalha, Natalie M.; Caldwell, Douglas A.; Jenkins, Jon M.; Cochran, William D.; Dunham, Edward W.; Gautier, Thomas N.; Gilliland, Ronald L.; Howell, Steve B.; Marcy, Geoffrey W.; Monet, David G.

2010-01-01

We report on the discovery and confirmation of Kepler-7b, a transiting planet with unusually low density. The mass is less than half that of Jupiter, M P = 0.43 M J , but the radius is 50% larger, R P = 1.48 R J . The resulting density, ρ P = 0.17 g cm -3 , is the second lowest reported so far for an extrasolar planet. The orbital period is fairly long, P = 4.886 days, and the host star is not much hotter than the Sun, T eff = 6000 K. However, it is more massive and considerably larger than the Sun, M * = 1.35 M sun and R * = 1.84 R sun , and must be near the end of its life on the main sequence.

TRANSIT TIMING OBSERVATIONS FROM KEPLER. II. CONFIRMATION OF TWO MULTIPLANET SYSTEMS VIA A NON-PARAMETRIC CORRELATION ANALYSIS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ford, Eric B.; Moorhead, Althea V.; Morehead, Robert C.; Fabrycky, Daniel C.; Steffen, Jason H.; Carter, Joshua A.; Fressin, Francois; Holman, Matthew J.; Ragozzine, Darin; Charbonneau, David; Lissauer, Jack J.; Rowe, Jason F.; Borucki, William J.; Bryson, Stephen T.; Burke, Christopher J.; Caldwell, Douglas A.; Welsh, William F.; Allen, Christopher; Batalha, Natalie M.; Buchhave, Lars A.

2012-01-01

We present a new method for confirming transiting planets based on the combination of transit timing variations (TTVs) and dynamical stability. Correlated TTVs provide evidence that the pair of bodies is in the same physical system. Orbital stability provides upper limits for the masses of the transiting companions that are in the planetary regime. This paper describes a non-parametric technique for quantifying the statistical significance of TTVs based on the correlation of two TTV data sets. We apply this method to an analysis of the TTVs of two stars with multiple transiting planet candidates identified by Kepler. We confirm four transiting planets in two multiple-planet systems based on their TTVs and the constraints imposed by dynamical stability. An additional three candidates in these same systems are not confirmed as planets, but are likely to be validated as real planets once further observations and analyses are possible. If all were confirmed, these systems would be near 4:6:9 and 2:4:6:9 period commensurabilities. Our results demonstrate that TTVs provide a powerful tool for confirming transiting planets, including low-mass planets and planets around faint stars for which Doppler follow-up is not practical with existing facilities. Continued Kepler observations will dramatically improve the constraints on the planet masses and orbits and provide sensitivity for detecting additional non-transiting planets. If Kepler observations were extended to eight years, then a similar analysis could likely confirm systems with multiple closely spaced, small transiting planets in or near the habitable zone of solar-type stars.

TRANSIT TIMING OBSERVATIONS FROM KEPLER. II. CONFIRMATION OF TWO MULTIPLANET SYSTEMS VIA A NON-PARAMETRIC CORRELATION ANALYSIS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ford, Eric B.; Moorhead, Althea V.; Morehead, Robert C. [Astronomy Department, University of Florida, 211 Bryant Space Sciences Center, Gainesville, FL 32611 (United States); Fabrycky, Daniel C. [UCO/Lick Observatory, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 (United States); Steffen, Jason H. [Fermilab Center for Particle Astrophysics, P.O. Box 500, MS 127, Batavia, IL 60510 (United States); Carter, Joshua A.; Fressin, Francois; Holman, Matthew J.; Ragozzine, Darin; Charbonneau, David [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Lissauer, Jack J.; Rowe, Jason F.; Borucki, William J.; Bryson, Stephen T.; Burke, Christopher J.; Caldwell, Douglas A. [NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States); Welsh, William F. [Astronomy Department, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182-1221 (United States); Allen, Christopher [Orbital Sciences Corporation/NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States); Batalha, Natalie M. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA 95192 (United States); Buchhave, Lars A., E-mail: eford@astro.ufl.edu [Niels Bohr Institute, Copenhagen University, DK-2100 Copenhagen (Denmark); Collaboration: Kepler Science Team; and others

2012-05-10

We present a new method for confirming transiting planets based on the combination of transit timing variations (TTVs) and dynamical stability. Correlated TTVs provide evidence that the pair of bodies is in the same physical system. Orbital stability provides upper limits for the masses of the transiting companions that are in the planetary regime. This paper describes a non-parametric technique for quantifying the statistical significance of TTVs based on the correlation of two TTV data sets. We apply this method to an analysis of the TTVs of two stars with multiple transiting planet candidates identified by Kepler. We confirm four transiting planets in two multiple-planet systems based on their TTVs and the constraints imposed by dynamical stability. An additional three candidates in these same systems are not confirmed as planets, but are likely to be validated as real planets once further observations and analyses are possible. If all were confirmed, these systems would be near 4:6:9 and 2:4:6:9 period commensurabilities. Our results demonstrate that TTVs provide a powerful tool for confirming transiting planets, including low-mass planets and planets around faint stars for which Doppler follow-up is not practical with existing facilities. Continued Kepler observations will dramatically improve the constraints on the planet masses and orbits and provide sensitivity for detecting additional non-transiting planets. If Kepler observations were extended to eight years, then a similar analysis could likely confirm systems with multiple closely spaced, small transiting planets in or near the habitable zone of solar-type stars.

A Population of planetary systems characterized by short-period, Earth-sized planets

Science.gov (United States)

Steffen, Jason H.; Coughlin, Jeffrey L.

2016-01-01

We analyze data from the Quarter 1–17 Data Release 24 (Q1–Q17 DR24) planet candidate catalog from NASA’s Kepler mission, specifically comparing systems with single transiting planets to systems with multiple transiting planets, and identify a population of exoplanets with a necessarily distinct system architecture. Such an architecture likely indicates a different branch in their evolutionary past relative to the typical Kepler system. The key feature of these planetary systems is an isolated, Earth-sized planet with a roughly 1-d orbital period. We estimate that at least 24 of the 144 systems we examined (≳17%) are members of this population. Accounting for detection efficiency, such planetary systems occur with a frequency similar to the hot Jupiters. PMID:27790984

A Population of planetary systems characterized by short-period, Earth-sized planets.

Science.gov (United States)

Steffen, Jason H; Coughlin, Jeffrey L

2016-10-25

We analyze data from the Quarter 1-17 Data Release 24 (Q1-Q17 DR24) planet candidate catalog from NASA's Kepler mission, specifically comparing systems with single transiting planets to systems with multiple transiting planets, and identify a population of exoplanets with a necessarily distinct system architecture. Such an architecture likely indicates a different branch in their evolutionary past relative to the typical Kepler system. The key feature of these planetary systems is an isolated, Earth-sized planet with a roughly 1-d orbital period. We estimate that at least 24 of the 144 systems we examined ([Formula: see text]17%) are members of this population. Accounting for detection efficiency, such planetary systems occur with a frequency similar to the hot Jupiters.

CHARACTERIZATION OF THE K2-19 MULTIPLE-TRANSITING PLANETARY SYSTEM VIA HIGH-DISPERSION SPECTROSCOPY, AO IMAGING, AND TRANSIT TIMING VARIATIONS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Narita, Norio; Hori, Yasunori; Kusakabe, Nobuhiko; Takeda, Yoichi; Tamura, Motohide [Astrobiology Center, 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo, 181-8588 (Japan); Hirano, Teruyuki [Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8551 (Japan); Fukui, Akihiko; Yanagisawa, Kenshi [Okayama Astrophysical Observatory, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Asakuchi, Okayama 719-0232 (Japan); Sanchis-Ojeda, Roberto [Department of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Winn, Joshua N. [Department of Physics, and Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States); Ryu, Tsuguru; Onitsuka, Masahiro [National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo, 181-8588 (Japan); Kudo, Tomoyuki [Subaru Telescope, 650 North A’ohoku Place, Hilo, HI 96720 (United States); Delrez, Laetitia; Gillon, Michael; Jehin, Emmanuel [Institut d’Astrophysique et de Géophysique, Université de Liège, Allée du 6 Août 17, Bat. B5C, B-4000 Liège (Belgium); McCormac, James [Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry CV4 7AL (United Kingdom); Holman, Matthew [Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Izumiura, Hideyuki, E-mail: norio.narita@nao.ac.jp [SOKENDAI (The Graduate University for Advanced Studies), 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo, 181-8588 (Japan)

2015-12-10

K2-19 (EPIC201505350) is an interesting planetary system in which two transiting planets with radii ∼7 R{sub ⊕} (inner planet b) and ∼4 R{sub ⊕} (outer planet c) have orbits that are nearly in a 3:2 mean-motion resonance. Here, we present results of ground-based follow-up observations for the K2-19 planetary system. We have performed high-dispersion spectroscopy and high-contrast adaptive-optics imaging of the host star with the HDS and HiCIAO on the Subaru 8.2 m telescope. We find that the host star is a relatively old (≥8 Gyr) late G-type star (T{sub eff} ∼ 5350 K, M{sub s} ∼ 0.9 M{sub ⊙}, and R{sub s} ∼ 0.9 R{sub ⊙}). We do not find any contaminating faint objects near the host star that could be responsible for (or dilute) the transit signals. We have also conducted transit follow-up photometry for the inner planet with KeplerCam on the FLWO 1.2 m telescope, TRAPPISTCAM on the TRAPPIST 0.6 m telescope, and MuSCAT on the OAO 1.88 m telescope. We confirm the presence of transit timing variations (TTVs), as previously reported by Armstrong and coworkers. We model the observed TTVs of the inner planet using the synodic chopping formulae given by Deck and Agol. We find two statistically indistinguishable solutions for which the period ratios (P{sub c}/P{sub b}) are located slightly above and below the exact 3:2 commensurability. Despite the degeneracy, we derive the orbital period of the inner planet P{sub b} ∼ 7.921 days and the mass of the outer planet M{sub c} ∼ 20 M{sub ⊕}. Additional transit photometry (especially for the outer planet) as well as precise radial-velocity measurements would be helpful to break the degeneracy and to determine the mass of the inner planet.

A septet of Earth-sized planets

Science.gov (United States)

Triaud, Amaury; SPECULOOS Team; TRAPPIST-1 Team

2017-10-01

Understanding the astronomical requirements for life to emerge, and to persist, on a planet is one of the most important and exciting scientific endeavours, yet without empirical answers. To resolve this, multiple planets whose sizes and surface temperatures are similar to the Earth, need to be discovered. Those planets also need to possess properties enabling detailed atmospheric characterisation with forthcoming facilities, from which chemical traces produced by biological activity can in principle be identified.I will describe a dedicated search for such planets called SPECULOOS. Our first detection is the TRAPPIST-1 system. Intensive ground-based and space-based observations have revealed that at least seven planets populate this system. We measured their radii and obtained first estimates of their masses thanks to transit-timing variations. I will describe our on-going observational efforts aiming to reduce our uncertainties on the planet properties. The incident flux on the planets ranges from Mercury to Ceres, comprising the Earth, and permitting climatic comparisons between each of those worlds such as is not possible within our Solar system. All seven planets have the potential to harbour liquid water on at least a fraction of their surfaces, given some atmospheric and geological conditions.

Optimizing the TESS Planet Finding Pipeline

Science.gov (United States)

Chitamitara, Aerbwong; Smith, Jeffrey C.; Tenenbaum, Peter; TESS Science Processing Operations Center

2017-10-01

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is a new NASA planet finding all-sky survey that will observe stars within 200 light years and 10-100 times brighter than that of the highly successful Kepler mission. TESS is expected to detect ~1000 planets smaller than Neptune and dozens of Earth size planets. As in the Kepler mission, the Science Processing Operations Center (SPOC) processing pipeline at NASA Ames Research center is tasked with calibrating the raw pixel data, generating systematic error corrected light curves and then detecting and validating transit signals. The Transiting Planet Search (TPS) component of the pipeline must be modified and tuned for the new data characteristics in TESS. For example, due to each sector being viewed for as little as 28 days, the pipeline will be identifying transiting planets based on a minimum of two transit signals rather than three, as in the Kepler mission. This may result in a significantly higher false positive rate. The study presented here is to measure the detection efficiency of the TESS pipeline using simulated data. Transiting planets identified by TPS are compared to transiting planets from the simulated transit model using the measured epochs, periods, transit durations and the expected detection statistic of injected transit signals (expected MES). From the comparisons, the recovery and false positive rates of TPS is measured. Measurements of recovery in TPS are then used to adjust TPS configuration parameters to maximize the planet recovery rate and minimize false detections. The improvements in recovery rate between initial TPS conditions and after various adjustments will be presented and discussed.

Transiting exoplanets from the CoRoT space mission. IV. CoRoT-Exo-4b: a transiting planet in a 9.2 day synchronous orbit

Science.gov (United States)

Aigrain, S.; Collier Cameron, A.; Ollivier, M.; Pont, F.; Jorda, L.; Almenara, J. M.; Alonso, R.; Barge, P.; Bordé, P.; Bouchy, F.; Deeg, H.; de La Reza, R.; Deleuil, M.; Dvorak, R.; Erikson, A.; Fridlund, M.; Gondoin, P.; Gillon, M.; Guillot, T.; Hatzes, A.; Lammer, H.; Lanza, A. F.; Léger, A.; Llebaria, A.; Magain, P.; Mazeh, T.; Moutou, C.; Paetzold, M.; Pinte, C.; Queloz, D.; Rauer, H.; Rouan, D.; Schneider, J.; Wuchter, G.; Zucker, S.

2008-09-01

CoRoT, the first space-based transit search, provides ultra-high-precision light curves with continuous time-sampling over periods of up to 5 months. This allows the detection of transiting planets with relatively long periods, and the simultaneous study of the host star's photometric variability. In this Letter, we report the discovery of the transiting giant planet CoRoT-Exo-4b and use the CoRoT light curve to perform a detailed analysis of the transit and determine the stellar rotation period. The CoRoT light curve was pre-processed to remove outliers and correct for orbital residuals and artefacts due to hot pixels on the detector. After removing stellar variability about each transit, the transit light curve was analysed to determine the transit parameters. A discrete autocorrelation function method was used to derive the rotation period of the star from the out-of-transit light curve. We determine the periods of the planetary orbit and star's rotation of 9.20205 ± 0.00037 and 8.87 ± 1.12 days respectively, which is consistent with this being a synchronised system. We also derive the inclination, i = 90.00_-0.085+0.000 in degrees, the ratio of the orbital distance to the stellar radius, a/Rs = 17.36-0.25+0.05, and the planet-to-star radius ratio R_p/R_s=0.1047-0.0022+0.0041. We discuss briefly the coincidence between the orbital period of the planet and the stellar rotation period and its possible implications for the system's migration and star-planet interaction history. The CoRoT space mission, launched on December 27th 2006, has been developed and is operated by CNES, with the contribution of Austria, Belgium, Brazil, ESA, Germany, and Spain. The first CoRoT data will be available to the public in February 2009 from the CoRoT archive: http://idoc-corot.ias.u-psud.fr/ Figures 1, 4 and 5 are only available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org

Three Small Planets Transiting the Bright Young Field Star K2-233

Science.gov (United States)

David, Trevor J.; Crossfield, Ian J. M.; Benneke, Björn; Petigura, Erik A.; Gonzales, Erica J.; Schlieder, Joshua E.; Yu, Liang; Isaacson, Howard T.; Howard, Andrew W.; Ciardi, David R.; Mamajek, Eric E.; Hillenbrand, Lynne A.; Cody, Ann Marie; Riedel, Adric; Schwengeler, Hans Martin; Tanner, Christopher; Ende, Martin

2018-05-01

We report the detection of three small transiting planets around the young K3 dwarf K2-233 (2MASS J15215519‑2013539) from observations during Campaign 15 of the K2 mission. The star is relatively nearby (d = 69 pc) and bright (V = 10.7 mag, K s = 8.4 mag), making the planetary system an attractive target for radial velocity follow-up and atmospheric characterization with the James Webb Space Telescope. The inner two planets are hot super-Earths (R b = 1.40 ± 0.06 {R}\\oplus , R c = 1.34 ± 0.08 {R}\\oplus ), while the outer planet is a warm sub-Neptune (R d = 2.6 ± 0.1 {R}\\oplus ). We estimate the stellar age to be {360}-140+490 Myr based on rotation, activity, and kinematic indicators. The K2-233 system is particularly interesting given recent evidence for inflated radii in planets around similarly aged stars, a trend potentially related to photo-evaporation, core cooling, or both mechanisms.

THE KEPLER-19 SYSTEM: A TRANSITING 2.2 R{sub Circled-Plus} PLANET AND A SECOND PLANET DETECTED VIA TRANSIT TIMING VARIATIONS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ballard, Sarah; Fressin, Francois; Charbonneau, David; Desert, Jean-Michel; Torres, Guillermo; Holman, Matthew J. [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Fabrycky, Daniel [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 (United States); Marcy, Geoffrey; Isaacson, Howard [Department of Astronomy, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Burke, Christopher J.; Henze, Christopher; Howell, Steven B.; Bryson, Stephen T.; Rowe, Jason F.; Lissauer, Jack J. [NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States); Steffen, Jason H. [Fermilab Center for Particle Astrophysics, P.O. Box 500, Batavia, IL 60510 (United States); Ciardi, David R. [NASA Exoplanet Science Institute/Caltech, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Cochran, William D.; Endl, Michael [McDonald Observatory, The University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712 (United States); Jenkins, Jon M., E-mail: sballard@cfa.harvard.edu [SETI Institute/NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States); and others

2011-12-20

We present the discovery of the Kepler-19 planetary system, which we first identified from a 9.3 day periodic transit signal in the Kepler photometry. From high-resolution spectroscopy of the star, we find a stellar effective temperature T{sub eff} = 5541 {+-} 60 K, a metallicity [Fe/H] = -0.13 {+-} 0.06, and a surface gravity log(g) = 4.59 {+-} 0.10. We combine the estimate of T{sub eff} and [Fe/H] with an estimate of the stellar density derived from the photometric light curve to deduce a stellar mass of M{sub *} = 0.936 {+-} 0.040 M{sub Sun} and a stellar radius of R{sub *} = 0.850 {+-} 0.018 R{sub Sun} (these errors do not include uncertainties in the stellar models). We rule out the possibility that the transits result from an astrophysical false positive by first identifying the subset of stellar blends that reproduce the precise shape of the light curve. Using the additional constraints from the measured color of the system, the absence of a secondary source in the high-resolution spectrum, and the absence of a secondary source in the adaptive optics imaging, we conclude that the planetary scenario is more than three orders of magnitude more likely than a blend. The blend scenario is independently disfavored by the achromaticity of the transit: we measure a transit depth with Spitzer at 4.5 {mu}m of 547{sup +113}{sub -110} ppm, consistent with the depth measured in the Kepler optical bandpass of 567 {+-} 6 ppm (corrected for stellar limb darkening). We determine a physical radius of the planet Kepler-19b of R{sub p} = 2.209 {+-} 0.048 R{sub Circled-Plus }; the uncertainty is dominated by uncertainty in the stellar parameters. From radial velocity observations of the star, we find an upper limit on the planet mass of 20.3 M{sub Circled-Plus }, corresponding to a maximum density of 10.4 g cm{sup -3}. We report a significant sinusoidal deviation of the transit times from a predicted linear ephemeris, which we conclude is due to an additional perturbing body in

HAT-P-12b: A LOW-DENSITY SUB-SATURN MASS PLANET TRANSITING A METAL-POOR K DWARF

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hartman, J. D.; Bakos, G. A.; Torres, G.; Noyes, R. W.; Pal, A.; Latham, D. W.; Sipocz, B.; Esquerdo, G. A.; Sasselov, D. D.; Kovacs, Gabor; Stefanik, R. P.; Fernandez, J. M.; Kovacs, Geza; Fischer, D. A.; Johnson, J. A.; Marcy, G. W.; Howard, A. W.; Butler, R. P.; Lazar, J.; Papp, I.

2009-01-01

We report on the discovery of HAT-P-12b, a transiting extrasolar planet orbiting the moderately bright V ∼ 12.8 K4 dwarf GSC 03033 - 00706, with a period P = 3.2130598 ± 0.0000021 d, transit epoch T c = 2454419.19556 ± 0.00020 (BJD), and transit duration 0.0974 ± 0.0006 d. The host star has a mass of 0.73 ± 0.02 M sun , radius of 0.70 +0.02 -0.01 R sun , effective temperature 4650 ± 60 K, and metallicity [Fe/H] = -0.29 ± 0.05. We find a slight correlation between the observed spectral line bisector spans and the radial velocity, so we consider, and rule out, various blend configurations including a blend with a background eclipsing binary, and hierarchical triple systems where the eclipsing body is a star or a planet. We conclude that a model consisting of a single star with a transiting planet best fits the observations, and show that a likely explanation for the apparent correlation is contamination from scattered moonlight. Based on this model, the planetary companion has a mass of 0.211 ± 0.012 M J and radius of 0.959 +0.029 -0.021 R J yielding a mean density of 0.295 ± 0.025 g cm -3 . Comparing these observations with recent theoretical models, we find that HAT-P-12b is consistent with a ∼1-4.5 Gyr, mildly irradiated, H/He-dominated planet with a core mass M C ∼ + . HAT-P-12b is thus the least massive H/He-dominated gas giant planet found to date. This record was previously held by Saturn.

CHARACTERIZING THE ATMOSPHERES OF TRANSITING ROCKY PLANETS AROUND LATE-TYPE DWARFS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Palle, E.; Garcia Munoz, A.; Zosorio, M. R. Zapatero

2011-01-01

Visible and near-infrared spectra of transiting hot Jupiter planets have recently been observed, revealing some of the atmospheric constituents of their atmospheres. In the near future, it is probable that primary and secondary eclipse observations of Earth-like rocky planets will also be achieved. The characterization of Earth's transmission spectrum has shown that both major and trace atmospheric constituents may present strong absorption features, including important bio-markers such as water, oxygen, and methane. Our simulations using a recently published empirical Earth's transmission spectrum, and the stellar spectra for a variety of stellar types, indicate that the new generation of extremely large telescopes, such as the proposed 42 m European Extremely Large Telescope, could be capable of retrieving the transmission spectrum of an Earth-like planet around very cool stars and brown dwarfs (T eff ≤ ∼3100 K). For a twin of Earth around a star with T eff ∼ 3100 K (M4), for example, the spectral features of H 2 O, CH 4 , CO 2 , and O 2 in the wavelength range between 0.9 and 2.4 μm can simultaneously be detected within 100 hr of observing time, or even less for a late-M star. Such detection would constitute proof for the existence of life in that planet. The detection time can be reduced to a few hours for a super-Earth type of planet with twice Earth's radius.

HAT-P-49b: a 1.7 M {sub J} planet transiting a bright 1.5 M {sub ☉} F-star

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bieryla, A.; Latham, D. W.; Buchhave, L. A.; Béky, B.; Falco, E.; Torres, G.; Noyes, R. W.; Berlind, P.; Calkins, M. C.; Esquerdo, G. A. [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Hartman, J. D.; Bakos, G. Á.; Bhatti, W.; Csubry, Z.; Penev, K.; De Val-Borro, M. [Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544 (United States); Kovács, G. [Konkoly Observatory, Budapest 1121 (Hungary); Boisse, I. [Centro de Astrofísica, Universidade do Porto, Rua das Estrelas, 4150-762 Porto (Portugal); Lázár, J.; Papp, I., E-mail: abieryla@cfa.harvard.edu, E-mail: gbakos@astro.princeton.edu [Hungarian Astronomical Association (HAA), Budapest 1461 (Hungary); and others

2014-04-01

We report the discovery of the transiting extrasolar planet HAT-P-49b. The planet transits the bright (V = 10.3) slightly evolved F-star HD 340099 with a mass of 1.54 M {sub ☉} and a radius of 1.83 R {sub ☉}. HAT-P-49b is orbiting one of the 25 brightest stars to host a transiting planet which makes this a favorable candidate for detailed follow-up. This system is an especially strong target for Rossiter-McLaughlin follow-up due to the host star's fast rotation, 16 km s{sup –1}. The planetary companion has a period of 2.6915 days, mass of 1.73 M {sub J}, and radius of 1.41 R {sub J}. The planetary characteristics are consistent with that of a classical hot Jupiter but we note that this is the fourth most massive star to host a transiting planet with both M{sub p} and R{sub p} well determined.

Kepler's first rocky planet

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Batalha, N.M.; Borucki, W.J.; Bryson, S.T.

2011-01-01

NASA's Kepler Mission uses transit photometry to determine the frequency of Earth-size planets in or near the habitable zone of Sun-like stars. The mission reached a milestone toward meeting that goal: the discovery of its first rocky planet, Kepler-10b. Two distinct sets of transit events were...... tests on the photometric and pixel flux time series established the viability of the planet candidates triggering ground-based follow-up observations. Forty precision Doppler measurements were used to confirm that the short-period transit event is due to a planetary companion. The parent star is bright...

Monte Carlo Methods to Establish Confidence in Planets Discovered by Transit Photometry

Science.gov (United States)

Jenkins, J. M.; Caldwell, D. A.

2000-12-01

With the astonishing discovery of about a dozen super giant short-period (attention on the problem of assessing the significance of a candidate transit signature. There are two fundamental quantities of interest required to establish the confidence in a planetary candidate. These are: 1) the equivalent number of independent statistical tests conducted in searching the light curve of one star for transiting planets over a given range of periods, and 2) the characteristics of the observation noise for the light curve in question. The latter quantity determines the false alarm rate for a single test for that particular star as a function of the detection threshold. The former quantity, together with the total number of target stars in the observing program, dictate the requisite single-test false alarm rate based on the acceptable total number of false alarms. The methods described do not make any presumptions about the distribution of the observational noise. In addition they either provide conservative results for non-white noise or take the correlation structure of the noise into account. The results of this paper show that transit photometry is a promising method for detecting planets even in the presence of colored, non-Gaussian noise and with the required large number of target stars (>100,000 stars in the case of the Kepler Mission) for the small geometric probability of transit alignment. Support for this work was received from NASA's Discovery Program.

A Bayesian approach shows no correlation between transit-depth and stellar metallicity for confirmed and candidates Kepler gas giants planets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nehmé, C; Sarkis, P

2017-01-01

Previous study to investigate the correlation between the transit depth and the stellar metallicity of Kepler’s (Q1-Q12) gas giant planets (radii of 5-20R ⊙ ) has led to a weakly significant negative correlation. We use the cumulative catalog of planets detected by the NASA Kepler mission Q1-Q17 catalog, as of April 2015, to perform a solid statistical analysis of this correlation. In the present work, we revise this correlation, within a Bayesian framework, for two large samples: sample A confirmed planets and sample B (confirmed + candidates). We expand a hierarchical method to account for false positives in the studied samples. Our statistical analysis reveals no correlation between the transit depth and the stellar metallicity. This has implications for planet formation theory and interior structure of giant planets. (paper)

Extrasolar Planet Transits Observed at Kitt Peak National Observatory

Science.gov (United States)

Sada, Pedro V.; Jennings, Donald E.; Deming, Drake; Jennings, Donald E.; Jackson, Brian; Hamilton, Catrina M.; Fraine, Jonathan; Peterson, Steven W.; Haase, Flynn; Bays, Kevin;

Transit detections of extrasolar planets around main-sequence stars. I. Sky maps for hot Jupiters

Science.gov (United States)

Heller, R.; Mislis, D.; Antoniadis, J.

2009-12-01

Context: The findings of more than 350 extrasolar planets, most of them nontransiting Hot Jupiters, have revealed correlations between the metallicity of the main-sequence (MS) host stars and planetary incidence. This connection can be used to calculate the planet formation probability around other stars, not yet known to have planetary companions. Numerous wide-field surveys have recently been initiated, aiming at the transit detection of extrasolar planets in front of their host stars. Depending on instrumental properties and the planetary distribution probability, the promising transit locations on the celestial plane will differ among these surveys. Aims: We want to locate the promising spots for transit surveys on the celestial plane and strive for absolute values of the expected number of transits in general. Our study will also clarify the impact of instrumental properties such as pixel size, field of view (FOV), and magnitude range on the detection probability. Methods: We used data of the Tycho catalog for ≈1 million objects to locate all the stars with 0^m~≲~m_V~≲~11.5m on the celestial plane. We took several empirical relations between the parameters listed in the Tycho catalog, such as distance to Earth, m_V, and (B-V), and those parameters needed to account for the probability of a star to host an observable, transiting exoplanet. The empirical relations between stellar metallicity and planet occurrence combined with geometrical considerations were used to yield transit probabilities for the MS stars in the Tycho catalog. Magnitude variations in the FOV were simulated to test whether this fluctuations would be detected by BEST, XO, SuperWASP and HATNet. Results: We present a sky map of the expected number of Hot Jupiter transit events on the basis of the Tycho catalog. Conditioned by the accumulation of stars towards the galactic plane, the zone of the highest number of transits follows the same trace, interrupted by spots of very low and high

Validation of small Kepler transiting planet candidates in or near the habitable zone

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Torres, Guillermo; Kane, Stephen R.; Rowe, Jason F.

2017-01-01

A main goal of NASA's Kepler Mission is to establish the frequency of potentially habitable Earth-size planets (). Relatively few such candidates identified by the mission can be confirmed to be rocky via dynamical measurement of their mass. Here we report an effort to validate 18 of them...... statistically using the BLENDER technique, by showing that the likelihood they are true planets is far greater than that of a false positive. Our analysis incorporates follow-up observations including high-resolution optical and near-infrared spectroscopy, high-resolution imaging, and information from...... the analysis of the flux centroids of the Kepler observations themselves. Although many of these candidates have been previously validated by others, the confidence levels reported typically ignore the possibility that the planet may transit a star different from the target along the same line of sight...

Extrasolar binary planets. I. Formation by tidal capture during planet-planet scattering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ochiai, H.; Nagasawa, M.; Ida, S.

2014-01-01

We have investigated (1) the formation of gravitationally bounded pairs of gas-giant planets (which we call 'binary planets') from capturing each other through planet-planet dynamical tide during their close encounters and (2) the subsequent long-term orbital evolution due to planet-planet and planet-star quasi-static tides. For the initial evolution in phase 1, we carried out N-body simulations of the systems consisting of three Jupiter-mass planets taking into account the dynamical tide. The formation rate of the binary planets is as much as 10% of the systems that undergo orbital crossing, and this fraction is almost independent of the initial stellarcentric semimajor axes of the planets, while ejection and merging rates sensitively depend on the semimajor axes. As a result of circularization by the planet-planet dynamical tide, typical binary separations are a few times the sum of the physical radii of the planets. After the orbital circularization, the evolution of the binary system is governed by long-term quasi-static tide. We analytically calculated the quasi-static tidal evolution in phase 2. The binary planets first enter the spin-orbit synchronous state by the planet-planet tide. The planet-star tide removes angular momentum of the binary motion, eventually resulting in a collision between the planets. However, we found that the binary planets survive the tidal decay for the main-sequence lifetime of solar-type stars (∼10 Gyr), if the binary planets are beyond ∼0.3 AU from the central stars. These results suggest that the binary planets can be detected by transit observations at ≳ 0.3 AU.

PLANETARY CANDIDATES OBSERVED BY KEPLER IV: PLANET SAMPLE FROM Q1-Q8 (22 MONTHS)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Burke, Christopher J.; Mullally, F.; Rowe, Jason F.; Thompson, Susan E.; Coughlin, Jeffrey L.; Caldwell, Douglas A.; Jenkins, Jon M.; Bryson, Stephen T.; Haas, Michael R.; Batalha, Natalie M.; Borucki, William J.; Christiansen, Jessie L.; Ciardi, David R.; Still, Martin; Barclay, Thomas; Chaplin, William J.; Clarke, Bruce D.; Cochran, William D.; Demory, Brice-Olivier; Esquerdo, Gilbert A.

2014-01-01

We provide updates to the Kepler planet candidate sample based upon nearly two years of high-precision photometry (i.e., Q1-Q8). From an initial list of nearly 13,400 threshold crossing events, 480 new host stars are identified from their flux time series as consistent with hosting transiting planets. Potential transit signals are subjected to further analysis using the pixel-level data, which allows background eclipsing binaries to be identified through small image position shifts during transit. We also re-evaluate Kepler Objects of Interest (KOIs) 1-1609, which were identified early in the mission, using substantially more data to test for background false positives and to find additional multiple systems. Combining the new and previous KOI samples, we provide updated parameters for 2738 Kepler planet candidates distributed across 2017 host stars. From the combined Kepler planet candidates, 472 are new from the Q1-Q8 data examined in this study. The new Kepler planet candidates represent ∼40% of the sample with R P ∼ 1 R ⊕ and represent ∼40% of the low equilibrium temperature (T eq < 300 K) sample. We review the known biases in the current sample of Kepler planet candidates relevant to evaluating planet population statistics with the current Kepler planet candidate sample

A Neptune-sized transiting planet closely orbiting a 5–10-million-year-old star.

Science.gov (United States)

David, Trevor J; Hillenbrand, Lynne A; Petigura, Erik A; Carpenter, John M; Crossfield, Ian J M; Hinkley, Sasha; Ciardi, David R; Howard, Andrew W; Isaacson, Howard T; Cody, Ann Marie; Schlieder, Joshua E; Beichman, Charles A; Barenfeld, Scott A

2016-06-30

Theories of the formation and early evolution of planetary systems postulate that planets are born in circumstellar disks, and undergo radial migration during and after dissipation of the dust and gas disk from which they formed. The precise ages of meteorites indicate that planetesimals—the building blocks of planets—are produced within the first million years of a star’s life. Fully formed planets are frequently detected on short orbital periods around mature stars. Some theories suggest that the in situ formation of planets close to their host stars is unlikely and that the existence of such planets is therefore evidence of large-scale migration. Other theories posit that planet assembly at small orbital separations may be common. Here we report a newly born, transiting planet orbiting its star with a period of 5.4 days. The planet is 50 per cent larger than Neptune, and its mass is less than 3.6 times that of Jupiter (at 99.7 per cent confidence), with a true mass likely to be similar to that of Neptune. The star is 5–10 million years old and has a tenuous dust disk extending outward from about twice the Earth–Sun separation, in addition to the fully formed planet located at less than one-twentieth of the Earth–Sun separation.

IMPROVED SPECTROSCOPIC PARAMETERS FOR TRANSITING PLANET HOSTS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Torres, Guillermo; Holman, Matthew J.; Carter, Joshua A. [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Fischer, Debra A. [Department of Astronomy, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511 (United States); Sozzetti, Alessandro [INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Torino, I-10025 Pino Torinese (Italy); Buchhave, Lars A. [Niels Bohr Institute, Copenhagen University, DK-2100 Copenhagen (Denmark); Winn, Joshua N., E-mail: gtorres@cfa.harvard.edu [Department of Physics, and Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States)

2012-10-01

We report homogeneous spectroscopic determinations of the effective temperature, metallicity, and projected rotational velocity for the host stars of 56 transiting planets. Our analysis is based primarily on the stellar parameter classification (SPC) technique. We investigate systematic errors by examining subsets of the data with two other methods that have often been used in previous studies (Spectroscopy Made Easy (SME) and MOOG). The SPC and SME results, both based on comparisons between synthetic spectra and actual spectra, show strong correlations between T{sub eff}, [Fe/H], and log g when solving for all three quantities simultaneously. In contrast the MOOG results, based on a more traditional curve-of-growth approach, show no such correlations. To combat the correlations and improve the accuracy of the temperatures and metallicities, we repeat the SPC analysis with a constraint on log g based on the mean stellar density that can be derived from the analysis of the transit light curves. Previous studies that have not taken advantage of this constraint have been subject to systematic errors in the stellar masses and radii of up to 20% and 10%, respectively, which can be larger than other observational uncertainties, and which also cause systematic errors in the planetary mass and radius.

Ground-based search for the brightest transiting planets with the Multi-site All-Sky CAmeRA: MASCARA

Science.gov (United States)

Snellen, Ignas A. G.; Stuik, Remko; Navarro, Ramon; Bettonvil, Felix; Kenworthy, Matthew; de Mooij, Ernst; Otten, Gilles; ter Horst, Rik; le Poole, Rudolf

2012-09-01

The Multi-site All-sky CAmeRA MASCARA is an instrument concept consisting of several stations across the globe, with each station containing a battery of low-cost cameras to monitor the near-entire sky at each location. Once all stations have been installed, MASCARA will be able to provide a nearly 24-hr coverage of the complete dark sky, down to magnitude 8, at sub-minute cadence. Its purpose is to find the brightest transiting exoplanet systems, expected in the V=4-8 magnitude range - currently not probed by space- or ground-based surveys. The bright/nearby transiting planet systems, which MASCARA will discover, will be the key targets for detailed planet atmosphere observations. We present studies on the initial design of a MASCARA station, including the camera housing, domes, and computer equipment, and on the photometric stability of low-cost cameras showing that a precision of 0.3-1% per hour can be readily achieved. We plan to roll out the first MASCARA station before the end of 2013. A 5-station MASCARA can within two years discover up to a dozen of the brightest transiting planet systems in the sky.

Planet Hunters: Kepler by Eye

Science.gov (United States)

Schwamb, Megan E.; Lintott, C.; Fischer, D.; Smith, A. M.; Boyajian, T. S.; Brewer, J. M.; Giguere, M. J.; Lynn, S.; Parrish, M.; Schawinski, K.; Schmitt, J.; Simpson, R.; Wang, J.

2014-01-01

Planet Hunters (http://www.planethunters.org), part of the Zooniverse's (http://www.zooniverse.org) collection of online citizen science projects, uses the World Wide Web to enlist the general public to identify transits in the pubic Kepler light curves. Planet Hunters utilizes human pattern recognition to identify planet transits that may be missed by automated detection algorithms looking for periodic events. Referred to as ‘crowdsourcing’ or ‘citizen science’, the combined assessment of many non-expert human classifiers with minimal training can often equal or best that of a trained expert and in many cases outperform the best machine-learning algorithm. Visitors to the Planet Hunters' website are presented with a randomly selected ~30-day light curve segment from one of Kepler’s ~160,000 target stars and are asked to draw boxes to mark the locations of visible transits in the web interface. 5-10 classifiers review each 30-day light curve segment. Since December 2010, more than 260,000 volunteers world wide have participated, contributing over 20 million classifications. We have demonstrated the success of a citizen science approach with the project’s more than 20 planet candidates, the discovery of PH1b, a transiting circumbinary planet in a quadruple star system, and the discovery of PH2-b, a confirmed Jupiter-sized planet in the habitable zone of a Sun-like star. I will provide an overview of Planet Hunters, highlighting several of project's most recent exoplanet and astrophysical discoveries. Acknowledgements: MES was supported in part by a NSF AAPF under award AST-1003258 and a American Philosophical Society Franklin Grant. We acknowledge support from NASA ADAP12-0172 grant to PI Fischer.

TrES-5: A MASSIVE JUPITER-SIZED PLANET TRANSITING A COOL G DWARF

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mandushev, Georgi; Dunham, Edward W.; Quinn, Samuel N.; Latham, David W.; Charbonneau, David; Buchhave, Lars A.; Rabus, Markus; Oetiker, Brian; Brown, Timothy M.; Belmonte, Juan A.; O'Donovan, Francis T.

2011-01-01

We report the discovery of TrES-5, a massive hot Jupiter that transits the star GSC 03949-00967 every 1.48 days. From spectroscopy of the star we estimate a stellar effective temperature of T eff = 5171 ± 36 K, and from high-precision B, R, and I photometry of the transit we constrain the ratio of the semimajor axis a and the stellar radius R * to be a/R * = 6.07 ± 0.14. We compare these values to model stellar isochrones to obtain a stellar mass of M * = 0.893 ± 0.024 M ☉ . Based on this estimate and the photometric time series, we constrain the stellar radius to be R * = 0.866 ± 0.013 R ☉ and the planet radius to be R p = 1.209 ± 0.021 R J . We model our radial-velocity data assuming a circular orbit and find a planetary mass of 1.778 ± 0.063 M J . Our radial-velocity observations rule out line-bisector variations that would indicate a specious detection resulting from a blend of an eclipsing binary system. TrES-5 orbits one of the faintest stars with transiting planets found to date from the ground and demonstrates that precise photometry and followup spectroscopy are possible, albeit challenging, even for such faint stars.

Spectral Resolution-linked Bias in Transit Spectroscopy of Extrasolar Planets

Science.gov (United States)

Deming, Drake; Sheppard, Kyle

2017-05-01

We re-visit the principles of transmission spectroscopy for transiting extrasolar planets, focusing on the overlap between the planetary spectrum and the illuminating stellar spectrum. Virtually all current models of exoplanetary transmission spectra utilize an approximation that is inaccurate when the spectrum of the illuminating star has a complex line structure, such as molecular bands in M-dwarf spectra. In those cases, it is desirable to model the observations using a coupled stellar-planetary radiative transfer model calculated at high spectral resolving power, followed by convolution to the observed resolution. Not consistently accounting for overlap of stellar M-dwarf and planetary lines at high spectral resolution can bias the modeled amplitude of the exoplanetary transmission spectrum, producing modeled absorption that is too strong. We illustrate this bias using the exoplanet TRAPPIST-1b, as observed using Hubble Space Telescope/WFC3. The bias in this case is about 250 ppm, 12% of the modeled transit absorption. Transit spectroscopy using JWST will have access to longer wavelengths where the water bands are intrinsically stronger, and the observed signal-to-noise ratios will be higher than currently possible. We therefore expect that this resolution-linked bias will be especially important for future JWST observations of TESS-discovered super-Earths and mini-Neptunes transiting M-dwarfs.

Spectral Resolution-linked Bias in Transit Spectroscopy of Extrasolar Planets

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Deming, Drake; Sheppard, Kyle [Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland at College Park, College Park, MD 20742 (United States)

2017-05-20

We re-visit the principles of transmission spectroscopy for transiting extrasolar planets, focusing on the overlap between the planetary spectrum and the illuminating stellar spectrum. Virtually all current models of exoplanetary transmission spectra utilize an approximation that is inaccurate when the spectrum of the illuminating star has a complex line structure, such as molecular bands in M-dwarf spectra. In those cases, it is desirable to model the observations using a coupled stellar–planetary radiative transfer model calculated at high spectral resolving power, followed by convolution to the observed resolution. Not consistently accounting for overlap of stellar M-dwarf and planetary lines at high spectral resolution can bias the modeled amplitude of the exoplanetary transmission spectrum, producing modeled absorption that is too strong. We illustrate this bias using the exoplanet TRAPPIST-1b, as observed using Hubble Space Telescope /WFC3. The bias in this case is about 250 ppm, 12% of the modeled transit absorption. Transit spectroscopy using JWST will have access to longer wavelengths where the water bands are intrinsically stronger, and the observed signal-to-noise ratios will be higher than currently possible. We therefore expect that this resolution-linked bias will be especially important for future JWST observations of TESS-discovered super-Earths and mini-Neptunes transiting M-dwarfs.

Spectral Resolution-linked Bias in Transit Spectroscopy of Extrasolar Planets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Deming, Drake; Sheppard, Kyle

2017-01-01

We re-visit the principles of transmission spectroscopy for transiting extrasolar planets, focusing on the overlap between the planetary spectrum and the illuminating stellar spectrum. Virtually all current models of exoplanetary transmission spectra utilize an approximation that is inaccurate when the spectrum of the illuminating star has a complex line structure, such as molecular bands in M-dwarf spectra. In those cases, it is desirable to model the observations using a coupled stellar–planetary radiative transfer model calculated at high spectral resolving power, followed by convolution to the observed resolution. Not consistently accounting for overlap of stellar M-dwarf and planetary lines at high spectral resolution can bias the modeled amplitude of the exoplanetary transmission spectrum, producing modeled absorption that is too strong. We illustrate this bias using the exoplanet TRAPPIST-1b, as observed using Hubble Space Telescope /WFC3. The bias in this case is about 250 ppm, 12% of the modeled transit absorption. Transit spectroscopy using JWST will have access to longer wavelengths where the water bands are intrinsically stronger, and the observed signal-to-noise ratios will be higher than currently possible. We therefore expect that this resolution-linked bias will be especially important for future JWST observations of TESS-discovered super-Earths and mini-Neptunes transiting M-dwarfs.

Design-considerations For A Ground-based Transit Survey To Find Habitable Planets Around L And T Dwarfs

Science.gov (United States)

Tata, Ramarao; Martin, E.

2011-09-01

Detection of planets in the habitable zone is one of the key drivers of the exoplanet science community. We present a detailed strategy for such detection around L and T dwarfs. We plan to implement the outcome of the analysis as a transit survey to search for planets around known L and T dwarfs. Understanding of the variability of these cool objects will be a worth-while byproduct of such a survey.

Transiting Planets from Kepler, K2 & TESS

Science.gov (United States)

Lissauer, Jack

2018-01-01

NASA's Kepler spacecraft, launched in 2009, has been a resounding success. More than 4000 planet candidates have been identified using data from Kepler primary mission, which ended in 2013, and greater than 2000 of these candidates have been verified as bona fide exoplanets. After the loss of two reaction wheels ended the primary mission, the Kepler spacecraft was repurposed in 2014 to observe many fields on the sky for short periods. This new mission, dubbed K2, has led to the discovery of greater than 600 planet candidates, approximately 200 of which have been verified to date; most of these exoplanets are closer to us than the majority of exoplanets discovered by the primary Kepler mission. TESS, launching in 2018, will survey most of the sky for exoplanets, with emphasis on those orbiting nearby and/or bright host stars, making these planets especially well-suited for follow-up observations with other observatories to characterize atmospheric compositions and other properties. More than one-third of the planet candidates found by NASA's are associated with target stars that have more than one planet candidate, and such 'multis' account for the majority of candidates that have been verified as true planets. The large number of multis tells us that flat multiplanet systems like our Solar System are common. Virtually all of the candidate planetary systems are stable, as tested by numerical integrations that assume a physically motivated mass-radius relationship. Statistical studies performed on these candidate systems reveal a great deal about the architecture of planetary systems, including the typical spacing of orbits and flatness. The characteristics of several of the most interesting confirmed Kepler & K2 multi-planet systems will also be discussed.

HAT-P-11b: A SUPER-NEPTUNE PLANET TRANSITING A BRIGHT K STAR IN THE KEPLER FIELD

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bakos, G. A.; Torres, G.; Pal, A.; Hartman, J.; Noyes, R. W.; Latham, D. W.; Sasselov, D. D.; Sipocz, B.; Esquerdo, G. A.; Kovacs, Gabor; Fernandez, J.; Kovacs, Geza; Moor, A.; Fischer, D. A.; Isaacson, H.; Johnson, J. A.; Marcy, G. W.; Howard, A.; Butler, R. P.; Vogt, S.

2010-01-01

We report on the discovery of HAT-P-11b, the smallest radius transiting extrasolar planet (TEP) discovered from the ground, and the first hot Neptune discovered to date by transit searches. HAT-P-11b orbits the bright (V = 9.587) and metal rich ([Fe/H] = +0.31 ± 0.05) K4 dwarf star GSC 03561-02092 with P = 4.8878162 ± 0.0000071 days and produces a transit signal with depth of 4.2 mmag, the shallowest found by transit searches that is due to a confirmed planet. We present a global analysis of the available photometric and radial velocity (RV) data that result in stellar and planetary parameters, with simultaneous treatment of systematic variations. The planet, like its near-twin GJ 436b, is somewhat larger than Neptune (17 M + , 3.8 R + ) both in mass M p = 0.081 ± 0.009 M J (25.8 ± 2.9 M + ) and radius R p = 0.422 ± 0.014 R J (4.73 ± 0.16 R + ). HAT-P-11b orbits in an eccentric orbit with e = 0.198 ± 0.046 and ω = 355. 0 2 ± 17. 0 3, causing a reflex motion of its parent star with amplitude 11.6 ± 1.2 m s -1 , a challenging detection due to the high level of chromospheric activity of the parent star. Our ephemeris for the transit events is T c = 2454605.89132 ± 0.00032 (BJD), with duration 0.0957 ± 0.0012 days, and secondary eclipse epoch of 2454608.96 ± 0.15 days (BJD). The basic stellar parameters of the host star are M * = 0.809 +0.020 -0.027 M sun , R * = 0.752 ± 0.021 R sun , and T eff* = 4780 ± 50 K. Importantly, HAT-P-11 will lie on one of the detectors of the forthcoming Kepler mission; this should make possible fruitful investigations of the detailed physical characteristic of both the planet and its parent star at unprecedented precision. We discuss an interesting constraint on the eccentricity of the system by the transit light curve and stellar parameters. This will be particularly useful for eccentric TEPs with low-amplitude RV variations in Kepler's field. We also present a blend analysis, that for the first time treats the case of a

THE OCCURRENCE RATE OF SMALL PLANETS AROUND SMALL STARS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dressing, Courtney D.; Charbonneau, David

2013-01-01

We use the optical and near-infrared photometry from the Kepler Input Catalog to provide improved estimates of the stellar characteristics of the smallest stars in the Kepler target list. We find 3897 dwarfs with temperatures below 4000 K, including 64 planet candidate host stars orbited by 95 transiting planet candidates. We refit the transit events in the Kepler light curves for these planet candidates and combine the revised planet/star radius ratios with our improved stellar radii to revise the radii of the planet candidates orbiting the cool target stars. We then compare the number of observed planet candidates to the number of stars around which such planets could have been detected in order to estimate the planet occurrence rate around cool stars. We find that the occurrence rate of 0.5-4 R ⊕ planets with orbital periods shorter than 50 days is 0.90 +0.04 -0.03 planets per star. The occurrence rate of Earth-size (0.5-1.4 R ⊕ ) planets is constant across the temperature range of our sample at 0.51 -0.05 +0.06 Earth-size planets per star, but the occurrence of 1.4-4 R ⊕ planets decreases significantly at cooler temperatures. Our sample includes two Earth-size planet candidates in the habitable zone, allowing us to estimate that the mean number of Earth-size planets in the habitable zone is 0.15 +0.13 -0.06 planets per cool star. Our 95% confidence lower limit on the occurrence rate of Earth-size planets in the habitable zones of cool stars is 0.04 planets per star. With 95% confidence, the nearest transiting Earth-size planet in the habitable zone of a cool star is within 21 pc. Moreover, the nearest non-transiting planet in the habitable zone is within 5 pc with 95% confidence.

TESTING THE METAL OF LATE-TYPE KEPLER PLANET HOSTS WITH IRON-CLAD METHODS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mann, Andrew W.; Hilton, Eric J. [Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Dr, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States); Gaidos, Eric [Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Hawaii, 1680 East-West Road, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States); Kraus, Adam [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden St, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)

2013-06-10

It has been shown that F, G, and early K dwarf hosts of Neptune-sized planets are not preferentially metal-rich. However, it is less clear whether the same holds for late K and M dwarf planet hosts. We report metallicities of Kepler targets and candidate transiting planet hosts with effective temperatures below 4500 K. We use new metallicity calibrations to determine [Fe/H] from visible and near-infrared spectra. We find that the metallicity distribution of late K and M dwarfs monitored by Kepler is consistent with that of the solar neighborhood. Further, we show that hosts of Earth- to Neptune-sized planets have metallicities consistent with those lacking detected planets and rule out a previously claimed 0.2 dex offset between the two distributions at 6{sigma} confidence. We also demonstrate that the metallicities of late K and M dwarfs hosting multiple detected planets are consistent with those lacking detected planets. Our results indicate that multiple terrestrial and Neptune-sized planets can form around late K and M dwarfs with metallicities as low as 0.25 solar. The presence of Neptune-sized planets orbiting such low-metallicity M dwarfs suggests that accreting planets collect most or all of the solids from the disk and that the potential cores of giant planets can readily form around M dwarfs. The paucity of giant planets around M dwarfs compared to solar-type stars must be due to relatively rapid disk evaporation or a slower rate of planet accretion, rather than insufficient solids to form a core.

TESTING THE METAL OF LATE-TYPE KEPLER PLANET HOSTS WITH IRON-CLAD METHODS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mann, Andrew W.; Hilton, Eric J.; Gaidos, Eric; Kraus, Adam

2013-01-01

It has been shown that F, G, and early K dwarf hosts of Neptune-sized planets are not preferentially metal-rich. However, it is less clear whether the same holds for late K and M dwarf planet hosts. We report metallicities of Kepler targets and candidate transiting planet hosts with effective temperatures below 4500 K. We use new metallicity calibrations to determine [Fe/H] from visible and near-infrared spectra. We find that the metallicity distribution of late K and M dwarfs monitored by Kepler is consistent with that of the solar neighborhood. Further, we show that hosts of Earth- to Neptune-sized planets have metallicities consistent with those lacking detected planets and rule out a previously claimed 0.2 dex offset between the two distributions at 6σ confidence. We also demonstrate that the metallicities of late K and M dwarfs hosting multiple detected planets are consistent with those lacking detected planets. Our results indicate that multiple terrestrial and Neptune-sized planets can form around late K and M dwarfs with metallicities as low as 0.25 solar. The presence of Neptune-sized planets orbiting such low-metallicity M dwarfs suggests that accreting planets collect most or all of the solids from the disk and that the potential cores of giant planets can readily form around M dwarfs. The paucity of giant planets around M dwarfs compared to solar-type stars must be due to relatively rapid disk evaporation or a slower rate of planet accretion, rather than insufficient solids to form a core.

Kepler Planet Detection Metrics: Pixel-Level Transit Injection Tests of Pipeline Detection Efficiency for Data Release 25

Science.gov (United States)

Christiansen, Jessie L.

2017-01-01

This document describes the results of the fourth pixel-level transit injection experiment, which was designed to measure the detection efficiency of both the Kepler pipeline (Jenkins 2002, 2010; Jenkins et al. 2017) and the Robovetter (Coughlin 2017). Previous transit injection experiments are described in Christiansen et al. (2013, 2015a,b, 2016).In order to calculate planet occurrence rates using a given Kepler planet catalogue, produced with a given version of the Kepler pipeline, we need to know the detection efficiency of that pipeline. This can be empirically determined by injecting a suite of simulated transit signals into the Kepler data, processing the data through the pipeline, and examining the distribution of successfully recovered transits. This document describes the results for the pixel-level transit injection experiment performed to accompany the final Q1-Q17 Data Release 25 (DR25) catalogue (Thompson et al. 2017)of the Kepler Objects of Interest. The catalogue was generated using the SOC pipeline version 9.3 and the DR25 Robovetter acting on the uniformly processed Q1-Q17 DR25 light curves (Thompson et al. 2016a) and assuming the Q1-Q17 DR25 Kepler stellar properties (Mathur et al. 2017).

Planet-planet scattering leads to tightly packed planetary systems

OpenAIRE

Raymond, Sean N.; Barnes, Rory; Veras, Dimitri; Armitage, Philip J.; Gorelick, Noel; Greenberg, Richard

2009-01-01

The known extrasolar multiple-planet systems share a surprising dynamical attribute: they cluster just beyond the Hill stability boundary. Here we show that the planet-planet scattering model, which naturally explains the observed exoplanet eccentricity distribution, can reproduce the observed distribution of dynamical configurations. We calculated how each of our scattered systems would appear over an appropriate range of viewing geometries; as Hill stability is weakly dependent on the masse...

Inferring giant planets from ALMA millimeter continuum and line observations in (transition) disks

Science.gov (United States)

Facchini, S.; Pinilla, P.; van Dishoeck, E. F.; de Juan Ovelar, M.

2018-05-01

viscosity for the parameters explored in this paper. Because of the low dust density in the gaps, the dust and gas components can become thermally decoupled and the gas becomes colder than the dust. The gaps seen in CO are due to a combination of gas temperature dropping at the location of the planet and of the underlying surface density profile. Both effects need to be taken into account and disentangled when inferring gas surface densities from observed CO intensity profiles; otherwise, the gas surface density drop at the planet location can easily be overestimated. CO line ratios across the gap are able to quantify the gas temperature drop in the gaps in observed systems. Finally, a CO cavity not observed in any of the models, only CO gaps, indicating that one single massive planet is not able to explain the CO cavities observed in transition disks, at least without additional physical or chemical mechanisms.

VALIDATION OF 12 SMALL KEPLER TRANSITING PLANETS IN THE HABITABLE ZONE

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Torres, Guillermo; Kipping, David M.; Fressin, Francois; Newton, Elisabeth R. [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Caldwell, Douglas A.; Twicken, Joseph D. [SETI Institute/NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States); Ballard, Sarah [University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195 (United States); Batalha, Natalie M.; Bryson, Stephen T.; Henze, Christopher E.; Howell, Steve B.; Jenkins, Jon M.; Barclay, Thomas; Borucki, William J. [NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States); Ciardi, David R. [NASA Exoplanet Science Institute/Caltech, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Isaacson, Howard T.; Petigura, Erik A. [Astronomy Department, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Muirhead, Philip S. [Department of Astronomy, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215 (United States); Crepp, Justin R. [University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556 (United States); Everett, Mark E., E-mail: gtorres@cfa.harvard.edu [National Optical Astronomy Observatory, Tucson, AZ 85719 (United States); and others

2015-02-20

We present an investigation of 12 candidate transiting planets from Kepler with orbital periods ranging from 34 to 207 days, selected from initial indications that they are small and potentially in the habitable zone (HZ) of their parent stars. Few of these objects are known. The expected Doppler signals are too small to confirm them by demonstrating that their masses are in the planetary regime. Here we verify their planetary nature by validating them statistically using the BLENDER technique, which simulates large numbers of false positives and compares the resulting light curves with the Kepler photometry. This analysis was supplemented with new follow-up observations (high-resolution optical and near-infrared spectroscopy, adaptive optics imaging, and speckle interferometry), as well as an analysis of the flux centroids. For 11 of them (KOI-0571.05, 1422.04, 1422.05, 2529.02, 3255.01, 3284.01, 4005.01, 4087.01, 4622.01, 4742.01, and 4745.01) we show that the likelihood they are true planets is far greater than that of a false positive, to a confidence level of 99.73% (3σ) or higher. For KOI-4427.01 the confidence level is about 99.2% (2.6σ). With our accurate characterization of the GKM host stars, the derived planetary radii range from 1.1 to 2.7 R {sub ⊕}. All 12 objects are confirmed to be in the HZ, and nine are small enough to be rocky. Excluding three of them that have been previously validated by others, our study doubles the number of known rocky planets in the HZ. KOI-3284.01 (Kepler-438b) and KOI-4742.01 (Kepler-442b) are the planets most similar to the Earth discovered to date when considering their size and incident flux jointly.

SURFACE LAYER ACCRETION IN TRANSITIONAL AND CONVENTIONAL DISKS: FROM POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS TO PLANETS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Perez-Becker, Daniel; Chiang, Eugene

2011-01-01

'Transitional' T Tauri disks have optically thin holes with radii ∼>10 AU, yet accrete up to the median T Tauri rate. Multiple planets inside the hole can torque the gas to high radial speeds over large distances, reducing the local surface density while maintaining accretion. Thus multi-planet systems, together with reductions in disk opacity due to grain growth, can explain how holes can be simultaneously transparent and accreting. There remains the problem of how outer disk gas diffuses into the hole. Here it has been proposed that the magnetorotational instability (MRI) erodes disk surface layers ionized by stellar X-rays. In contrast to previous work, we find that the extent to which surface layers are MRI-active is limited not by ohmic dissipation but by ambipolar diffusion, the latter measured by Am: the number of times a neutral hydrogen molecule collides with ions in a dynamical time. Simulations by Hawley and Stone showed that Am ∼ 100 is necessary for ions to drive MRI turbulence in neutral gas. We calculate that in X-ray-irradiated surface layers, Am typically varies from ∼10 -3 to 1, depending on the abundance of charge-adsorbing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, whose properties we infer from Spitzer observations. We conclude that ionization of H 2 by X-rays and cosmic rays can sustain, at most, only weak MRI turbulence in surface layers 1-10 g cm -2 thick, and that accretion rates in such layers are too small compared to observed accretion rates for the majority of disks.

CHARACTERIZING K2 PLANET DISCOVERIES: A SUPER-EARTH TRANSITING THE BRIGHT K DWARF HIP 116454

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vanderburg, Andrew; Montet, Benjamin T.; Johnson, John Asher; Buchhave, Lars A.; Zeng, Li; Latham, David W.; Angus, Ruth; Bieryla, Allyson; Charbonneau, David; Pepe, Francesco; Udry, Stéphane; Lovis, Christophe; Cameron, Andrew Collier; Molinari, Emilio; Boschin, Walter; Matthews, Jaymie M.; Cameron, Chris; Law, Nicholas; Bowler, Brendan P.; Baranec, Christoph

2015-01-01

We report the first planet discovery from the two-wheeled Kepler (K2) mission: HIP 116454 b. The host star HIP 116454 is a bright (V = 10.1, K = 8.0) K1 dwarf with high proper motion and a parallax-based distance of 55.2 ± 5.4 pc. Based on high-resolution optical spectroscopy, we find that the host star is metal-poor with [Fe/H] =–0.16 ± 0.08 and has a radius R * = 0.716 ± 0.024 R ☉ and mass M * = 0.775 ± 0.027 M ☉ . The star was observed by the Kepler spacecraft during its Two-Wheeled Concept Engineering Test in 2014 February. During the 9 days of observations, K2 observed a single transit event. Using a new K2 photometric analysis technique, we are able to correct small telescope drifts and recover the observed transit at high confidence, corresponding to a planetary radius of R p = 2.53 ± 0.18 R ⊕ . Radial velocity observations with the HARPS-N spectrograph reveal a 11.82 ± 1.33 M ⊕ planet in a 9.1 day orbit, consistent with the transit depth, duration, and ephemeris. Follow-up photometric measurements from the MOST satellite confirm the transit observed in the K2 photometry and provide a refined ephemeris, making HIP 116454 b amenable for future follow-up observations of this latest addition to the growing population of transiting super-Earths around nearby, bright stars

CHARACTERIZING K2 PLANET DISCOVERIES: A SUPER-EARTH TRANSITING THE BRIGHT K DWARF HIP 116454

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vanderburg, Andrew; Montet, Benjamin T.; Johnson, John Asher; Buchhave, Lars A.; Zeng, Li; Latham, David W.; Angus, Ruth; Bieryla, Allyson; Charbonneau, David [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Pepe, Francesco; Udry, Stéphane; Lovis, Christophe [Observatoire Astronomique de l' Université de Genève, 51 chemin des Maillettes, CH-1290 Versoix (Switzerland); Cameron, Andrew Collier [SUPA, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews, North Haugh, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9SS (United Kingdom); Molinari, Emilio; Boschin, Walter [INAF-Fundación Galileo Galilei, Rambla José Ana Fernández Pérez, 7, E-38712 Breña Baja (Spain); Matthews, Jaymie M. [University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T1Z1 (Canada); Cameron, Chris [Cape Breton University, 1250 Grand Lake Road, Sydney NS B1P 6L2 (Canada); Law, Nicholas [University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599 (United States); Bowler, Brendan P. [California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Baranec, Christoph, E-mail: avanderburg@cfa.harvard.edu [University of Hawai' i at Mānoa, Hilo, HI 96720 (United States); and others

2015-02-10

We report the first planet discovery from the two-wheeled Kepler (K2) mission: HIP 116454 b. The host star HIP 116454 is a bright (V = 10.1, K = 8.0) K1 dwarf with high proper motion and a parallax-based distance of 55.2 ± 5.4 pc. Based on high-resolution optical spectroscopy, we find that the host star is metal-poor with [Fe/H] =–0.16 ± 0.08 and has a radius R {sub *} = 0.716 ± 0.024 R {sub ☉} and mass M {sub *} = 0.775 ± 0.027 M {sub ☉}. The star was observed by the Kepler spacecraft during its Two-Wheeled Concept Engineering Test in 2014 February. During the 9 days of observations, K2 observed a single transit event. Using a new K2 photometric analysis technique, we are able to correct small telescope drifts and recover the observed transit at high confidence, corresponding to a planetary radius of R{sub p} = 2.53 ± 0.18 R {sub ⊕}. Radial velocity observations with the HARPS-N spectrograph reveal a 11.82 ± 1.33 M {sub ⊕} planet in a 9.1 day orbit, consistent with the transit depth, duration, and ephemeris. Follow-up photometric measurements from the MOST satellite confirm the transit observed in the K2 photometry and provide a refined ephemeris, making HIP 116454 b amenable for future follow-up observations of this latest addition to the growing population of transiting super-Earths around nearby, bright stars.

Extrasolar Planets in the Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

George, Samuel J.

2011-01-01

The field of extrasolar planets is still, in comparison with other astrophysical topics, in its infancy. There have been about 300 or so extrasolar planets detected and their detection has been accomplished by various different techniques. Here we present a simple laboratory experiment to show how planets are detected using the transit technique.…

Long-Period Exoplanets from Photometric Transit Surveys

Science.gov (United States)

Osborn, Hugh

2017-10-01

Photometric transit surveys on the ground & in space have detected thousands of transiting exoplanets, typically by analytically combining the signals from multiple transits. This technique of exoplanet detection was exploited in K2 to detect nearly 200 candidate planets, and extensive follow-up was able to confirm the planet K2-110b as a 2.6±0.1R⊕, 16.7±3.2M⊙ planet on a 14d orbit around a K-dwarf. The ability to push beyond the time limit set by transit surveys to detect long-period transiting objects from a single eclipse was also studied. This was performed by developing a search technique to search for planets around bright stars in WASP and NGTS photometry, finding NGTS to be marginally better than WASP at detecting such planets with 4.14±0.16 per year compared to 1.43±0.15, and detecting many planet candidates for which follow-up is on-going. This search was then adapted to search for deep, long-duration eclipses in all WASP targets. The results of this survey are described in this thesis, as well as detailed results for the candidate PDS-110, a young T-Tauri star which exhibited ∼20d-long, 30%-deep eclipses in 2008 and 2011. Space-based photometers such as Kepler have the precision to identify small exoplanets and eclipsing binary candidates from only a single eclipse. K2, with its 75d campaign duration and high-precision photometry, is not only ideally suited to detect significant numbers of single-eclipsing objects, but also to characterise them from a single event. The Bayesian transit-fitting tool ("Namaste: An MCMC Analysis of Single Transit Exoplanets") was developed to extract planetary and orbital information from single transits, and was applied to 71 candidate events detected in K2 photometry. The techniques developed in this thesis are highly applicable to future transit surveys such as TESS & PLATO, which will be able to discover & characterise large numbers of long period planets in this way

Gifts from Exoplanetary Transits

Science.gov (United States)

Narita, Norio

2009-08-01

The discovery of transiting extrasolar planets has enabled us to do a number of interesting studies. Transit photometry reveals the radius and the orbital inclination of transiting planets, which allows us to learn the true mass and density of the respective planets by the combined information from radial velocity (RV) measurements. In addition, follow-up observations of transiting planets, looking at such things as secondary eclipses, transit timing variations, transmission spectroscopy, and the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect, provide us information about their dayside temperatures, unseen bodies in systems, planetary atmospheres, and the obliquity of planetary orbits. Such observational information, which will provide us a greater understanding of extrasolar planets, is available only for transiting planets. Here, I briefly summarize what we can learn from transiting planets and introduce previous studies.

Statistical Analysis of Hubble/WFC3 Transit Spectroscopy of Extrasolar Planets

Science.gov (United States)

Fu, Guangwei; Deming, Drake; Knutson, Heather; Madhusudhan, Nikku; Mandell, Avi; Fraine, Jonathan

2018-01-01

Transmission spectroscopy provides a window to study exoplanetary atmospheres, but that window is fogged by clouds and hazes. Clouds and haze introduce a degeneracy between the strength of gaseous absorption features and planetary physical parameters such as abundances. One way to break that degeneracy is via statistical studies. We collect all published HST/WFC3 transit spectra for 1.1-1.65 micron water vapor absorption, and perform a statistical study on potential correlations between the water absorption feature and planetary parameters. We fit the observed spectra with a template calculated for each planet using the Exo-Transmit code. We express the magnitude of the water absorption in scale heights, thereby removing the known dependence on temperature, surface gravity, and mean molecular weight. We find that the absorption in scale heights has a positive baseline correlation with planetary equilibrium temperature; our hypothesis is that decreasing cloud condensation with increasing temperature is responsible for this baseline slope. However, the observed sample is also intrinsically degenerate in the sense that equilibrium temperature correlates with planetary mass. We compile the distribution of absorption in scale heights, and we find that this distribution is closer to log-normal than Gaussian. However, we also find that the distribution of equilibrium temperatures for the observed planets is similarly log-normal. This indicates that the absorption values are affected by observational bias, whereby observers have not yet targeted a sufficient sample of the hottest planets.

Statistical Analysis of Hubble /WFC3 Transit Spectroscopy of Extrasolar Planets

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fu, Guangwei; Deming, Drake [Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 (United States); Knutson, Heather [Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Madhusudhan, Nikku [Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA (United Kingdom); Mandell, Avi [Planetary Systems Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States); Fraine, Jonathan, E-mail: gfu@astro.umd.edu [Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States)

2017-10-01

Transmission spectroscopy provides a window to study exoplanetary atmospheres, but that window is fogged by clouds and hazes. Clouds and haze introduce a degeneracy between the strength of gaseous absorption features and planetary physical parameters such as abundances. One way to break that degeneracy is via statistical studies. We collect all published HST /WFC3 transit spectra for 1.1–1.65 μ m water vapor absorption and perform a statistical study on potential correlations between the water absorption feature and planetary parameters. We fit the observed spectra with a template calculated for each planet using the Exo-transmit code. We express the magnitude of the water absorption in scale heights, thereby removing the known dependence on temperature, surface gravity, and mean molecular weight. We find that the absorption in scale heights has a positive baseline correlation with planetary equilibrium temperature; our hypothesis is that decreasing cloud condensation with increasing temperature is responsible for this baseline slope. However, the observed sample is also intrinsically degenerate in the sense that equilibrium temperature correlates with planetary mass. We compile the distribution of absorption in scale heights, and we find that this distribution is closer to log-normal than Gaussian. However, we also find that the distribution of equilibrium temperatures for the observed planets is similarly log-normal. This indicates that the absorption values are affected by observational bias, whereby observers have not yet targeted a sufficient sample of the hottest planets.

Statistical Analysis of Hubble /WFC3 Transit Spectroscopy of Extrasolar Planets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fu, Guangwei; Deming, Drake; Knutson, Heather; Madhusudhan, Nikku; Mandell, Avi; Fraine, Jonathan

2017-01-01

Transmission spectroscopy provides a window to study exoplanetary atmospheres, but that window is fogged by clouds and hazes. Clouds and haze introduce a degeneracy between the strength of gaseous absorption features and planetary physical parameters such as abundances. One way to break that degeneracy is via statistical studies. We collect all published HST /WFC3 transit spectra for 1.1–1.65 μ m water vapor absorption and perform a statistical study on potential correlations between the water absorption feature and planetary parameters. We fit the observed spectra with a template calculated for each planet using the Exo-transmit code. We express the magnitude of the water absorption in scale heights, thereby removing the known dependence on temperature, surface gravity, and mean molecular weight. We find that the absorption in scale heights has a positive baseline correlation with planetary equilibrium temperature; our hypothesis is that decreasing cloud condensation with increasing temperature is responsible for this baseline slope. However, the observed sample is also intrinsically degenerate in the sense that equilibrium temperature correlates with planetary mass. We compile the distribution of absorption in scale heights, and we find that this distribution is closer to log-normal than Gaussian. However, we also find that the distribution of equilibrium temperatures for the observed planets is similarly log-normal. This indicates that the absorption values are affected by observational bias, whereby observers have not yet targeted a sufficient sample of the hottest planets.

Transiting exoplanets from the CoRoT space mission. XXI. CoRoT-19b: a low density planet orbiting an old inactive F9V-star

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Guenther, E. W.; Díaz, R. F.; Gazzano, J.-C.

2012-01-01

Context. Observations of transiting extrasolar planets are of key importance to our understanding of planets because their mass, radius, and mass density can be determined. These measurements indicate that planets of similar mass can have very different radii. For low-density planets, it is gener...

Validation of Small Kepler Transiting Planet Candidates in or near the Habitable Zone

Science.gov (United States)

Torres, Guillermo; Kane, Stephen R.; Rowe, Jason F.; Batalha, Natalie M.; Henze, Christopher E.; Ciardi, David R.; Barclay, Thomas; Borucki, William J.; Buchhave, Lars A.; Crepp, Justin R.; Everett, Mark E.; Horch, Elliott P.; Howard, Andrew W.; Howell, Steve B.; Isaacson, Howard T.; Jenkins, Jon M.; Latham, David W.; Petigura, Erik A.; Quintana, Elisa V.

2017-12-01

A main goal of NASA’s Kepler Mission is to establish the frequency of potentially habitable Earth-size planets ({η }\\oplus ). Relatively few such candidates identified by the mission can be confirmed to be rocky via dynamical measurement of their mass. Here we report an effort to validate 18 of them statistically using the BLENDER technique, by showing that the likelihood they are true planets is far greater than that of a false positive. Our analysis incorporates follow-up observations including high-resolution optical and near-infrared spectroscopy, high-resolution imaging, and information from the analysis of the flux centroids of the Kepler observations themselves. Although many of these candidates have been previously validated by others, the confidence levels reported typically ignore the possibility that the planet may transit a star different from the target along the same line of sight. If that were the case, a planet that appears small enough to be rocky may actually be considerably larger and therefore less interesting from the point of view of habitability. We take this into consideration here and are able to validate 15 of our candidates at a 99.73% (3σ) significance level or higher, and the other three at a slightly lower confidence. We characterize the GKM host stars using available ground-based observations and provide updated parameters for the planets, with sizes between 0.8 and 2.9 R ⊕. Seven of them (KOI-0438.02, 0463.01, 2418.01, 2626.01, 3282.01, 4036.01, and 5856.01) have a better than 50% chance of being smaller than 2 R ⊕ and being in the habitable zone of their host stars.

Inside-out planet formation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chatterjee, Sourav; Tan, Jonathan C.

2014-01-01

The compact multi-transiting planet systems discovered by Kepler challenge planet formation theories. Formation in situ from disks with radial mass surface density, Σ, profiles similar to the minimum mass solar nebula but boosted in normalization by factors ≳ 10 has been suggested. We propose that a more natural way to create these planets in the inner disk is formation sequentially from the inside-out via creation of successive gravitationally unstable rings fed from a continuous stream of small (∼cm-m size) 'pebbles', drifting inward via gas drag. Pebbles collect at the pressure maximum associated with the transition from a magnetorotational instability (MRI)-inactive ('dead zone') region to an inner MRI-active zone. A pebble ring builds up until it either becomes gravitationally unstable to form an ∼1 M ⊕ planet directly or induces gradual planet formation via core accretion. The planet may undergo Type I migration into the active region, allowing a new pebble ring and planet to form behind it. Alternatively, if migration is inefficient, the planet may continue to accrete from the disk until it becomes massive enough to isolate itself from the accretion flow. A variety of densities may result depending on the relative importance of residual gas accretion as the planet approaches its isolation mass. The process can repeat with a new pebble ring gathering at the new pressure maximum associated with the retreating dead-zone boundary. Our simple analytical model for this scenario of inside-out planet formation yields planetary masses, relative mass scalings with orbital radius, and minimum orbital separations consistent with those seen by Kepler. It provides an explanation of how massive planets can form with tightly packed and well-aligned system architectures, starting from typical protoplanetary disk properties.

Architecture of Kepler's multi-transiting systems. II. New investigations with twice as many candidates

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fabrycky, Daniel C. [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 (United States); Lissauer, Jack J.; Rowe, Jason F.; Barclay, Thomas; Batalha, Natalie; Borucki, William; Jenkins, Jon M.; Li, Jie; Morris, Robert L.; Smith, Jeffrey C. [NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States); Ragozzine, Darin; Geary, John C.; Holman, Matthew J. [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Steffen, Jason H. [Fermilab Center for Particle Astrophysics, P.O. Box 500, MS 127, Batavia, IL 60510 (United States); Agol, Eric [Department of Astronomy, University of Washington, P.O. Box 351580, Seattle, WA 98195 (United States); Ciardi, David R. [NASA Exoplanet Science Institute/Caltech, 770 South Wilson Avenue, MC 100-2, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Ford, Eric B.; Morehead, Robert C. [Center for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds, 525 Davey Laboratory, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 (United States); Gautier, Thomas N.; Shporer, Avi, E-mail: fabrycky@uchicago.edu [Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States); and others

2014-08-01

We report on the orbital architectures of Kepler systems having multiple-planet candidates identified in the analysis of data from the first six quarters of Kepler data and reported by Batalha et al. (2013). These data show 899 transiting planet candidates in 365 multiple-planet systems and provide a powerful means to study the statistical properties of planetary systems. Using a generic mass-radius relationship, we find that only two pairs of planets in these candidate systems (out of 761 pairs total) appear to be on Hill-unstable orbits, indicating ∼96% of the candidate planetary systems are correctly interpreted as true systems. We find that planet pairs show little statistical preference to be near mean-motion resonances. We identify an asymmetry in the distribution of period ratios near first-order resonances (e.g., 2:1, 3:2), with an excess of planet pairs lying wide of resonance and relatively few lying narrow of resonance. Finally, based upon the transit duration ratios of adjacent planets in each system, we find that the interior planet tends to have a smaller transit impact parameter than the exterior planet does. This finding suggests that the mode of the mutual inclinations of planetary orbital planes is in the range 1.°0-2.°2, for the packed systems of small planets probed by these observations.

Architecture of Kepler's multi-transiting systems. II. New investigations with twice as many candidates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fabrycky, Daniel C.; Lissauer, Jack J.; Rowe, Jason F.; Barclay, Thomas; Batalha, Natalie; Borucki, William; Jenkins, Jon M.; Li, Jie; Morris, Robert L.; Smith, Jeffrey C.; Ragozzine, Darin; Geary, John C.; Holman, Matthew J.; Steffen, Jason H.; Agol, Eric; Ciardi, David R.; Ford, Eric B.; Morehead, Robert C.; Gautier, Thomas N.; Shporer, Avi

2014-01-01

We report on the orbital architectures of Kepler systems having multiple-planet candidates identified in the analysis of data from the first six quarters of Kepler data and reported by Batalha et al. (2013). These data show 899 transiting planet candidates in 365 multiple-planet systems and provide a powerful means to study the statistical properties of planetary systems. Using a generic mass-radius relationship, we find that only two pairs of planets in these candidate systems (out of 761 pairs total) appear to be on Hill-unstable orbits, indicating ∼96% of the candidate planetary systems are correctly interpreted as true systems. We find that planet pairs show little statistical preference to be near mean-motion resonances. We identify an asymmetry in the distribution of period ratios near first-order resonances (e.g., 2:1, 3:2), with an excess of planet pairs lying wide of resonance and relatively few lying narrow of resonance. Finally, based upon the transit duration ratios of adjacent planets in each system, we find that the interior planet tends to have a smaller transit impact parameter than the exterior planet does. This finding suggests that the mode of the mutual inclinations of planetary orbital planes is in the range 1.°0-2.°2, for the packed systems of small planets probed by these observations.

Characterizing the Habitable Zone Planets of Kepler Stars

Science.gov (United States)

Fischer, Debra

Planet Hunters (PH) is a well-established and successful web interface that allows citizen scientists to search for transiting planets in the NASA Kepler public archive data. Over the past 3 years, our users have made more than 20 million light curve classifications. We now have more than 300,000 users around the world. However, more than half of the Kepler data has not yet been displayed to our volunteers. In June 2014 we are launching Planet Hunters v2.0. The backend of the site has been completely redesigned. The new website is more intuitive and faster; we have improved the real-time weighting algorithm that assigns transit scores for faster and more accurate extraction of the transit events from the database. With Planet Hunters v2.0, we expect that assessments will be ten times faster, so that we have the opportunity to complete the classifications for the backlog of Kepler light curve in the next three years. There are three goals for this project. First, we will data-mine the PH classifications to search for long period planets with fewer than 5 transit events. We have demonstrated that our volunteers are efficient at detecting planets with long periods and radii greater than a few REARTH. This region of parameter space is optimal for characterizing larger planets orbiting close to the habitable zone. To build upon the citizen science efforts, we will model the light curves, search for evidence of false positives, and contribute observations of stellar spectra to refine both the stellar and orbital parameters. Second, we will carry out a careful analysis of the fraction of transits that are missed (a function of planet radius and orbital period) to derive observational incompleteness factors. The incompleteness factors will be combined with geometrical detection factors to assess the planet occurrence rate for wide separations. This is a unique scientific contribution current studies of planet occurrence rate are either restricted to orbital periods shorter

PLANET HUNTERS. VIII. CHARACTERIZATION OF 41 LONG-PERIOD EXOPLANET CANDIDATES FROM KEPLER ARCHIVAL DATA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Ji; Fischer, Debra A.; Picard, Alyssa; Schmitt, Joseph R.; Boyajian, Tabetha S.; Barclay, Thomas; Ma, Bo; Bowler, Brendan P.; Riddle, Reed; Jek, Kian J.; LaCourse, Daryll; Simister, Dean Joseph; Grégoire, Boscher; Babin, Sean P.; Poile, Trevor; Jacobs, Thomas Lee; Baranec, Christoph; Law, Nicholas M.; Lintott, Chris; Schawinski, Kevin

2015-01-01

The census of exoplanets is incomplete for orbital distances larger than 1 AU. Here, we present 41 long-period planet candidates in 38 systems identified by Planet Hunters based on Kepler archival data (Q0–Q17). Among them, 17 exhibit only one transit, 14 have two visible transits, and 10 have more than three visible transits. For planet candidates with only one visible transit, we estimate their orbital periods based on transit duration and host star properties. The majority of the planet candidates in this work (75%) have orbital periods that correspond to distances of 1–3 AU from their host stars. We conduct follow-up imaging and spectroscopic observations to validate and characterize planet host stars. In total, we obtain adaptive optics images for 33 stars to search for possible blending sources. Six stars have stellar companions within 4″. We obtain high-resolution spectra for 6 stars to determine their physical properties. Stellar properties for other stars are obtained from the NASA Exoplanet Archive and the Kepler Stellar Catalog by Huber et al. We validate 7 planet candidates that have planet confidence over 0.997 (3σ level). These validated planets include 3 single-transit planets (KIC-3558849b, KIC-5951458b, and KIC-8540376c), 3 planets with double transits (KIC-8540376b, KIC-9663113b, and KIC-10525077b), and 1 planet with four transits (KIC-5437945b). This work provides assessment regarding the existence of planets at wide separations and the associated false positive rate for transiting observation (17%–33%). More than half of the long-period planets with at least three transits in this paper exhibit transit timing variations up to 41 hr, which suggest additional components that dynamically interact with the transiting planet candidates. The nature of these components can be determined by follow-up radial velocity and transit observations

PLANET HUNTERS. VIII. CHARACTERIZATION OF 41 LONG-PERIOD EXOPLANET CANDIDATES FROM KEPLER ARCHIVAL DATA

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Ji; Fischer, Debra A.; Picard, Alyssa; Schmitt, Joseph R.; Boyajian, Tabetha S. [Department of Astronomy, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511 (United States); Barclay, Thomas [NASA Ames Research Center, M/S 244-30, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States); Ma, Bo [Department of Astronomy, University of Florida, 211 Bryant Space Science Center, Gainesville, FL 32611-2055 (United States); Bowler, Brendan P.; Riddle, Reed [California Institute of Technology, 1200 East California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91101 (United States); Jek, Kian J.; LaCourse, Daryll; Simister, Dean Joseph; Grégoire, Boscher; Babin, Sean P.; Poile, Trevor; Jacobs, Thomas Lee; Baranec, Christoph [Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Hilo, HI 96720-2700 (United States); Law, Nicholas M. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3255 (United States); Lintott, Chris [Oxford Astrophysics, Denys Wilkinson Building, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH (United Kingdom); Schawinski, Kevin [Institute for Astronomy, Department of Physics, ETH Zurich, Wolfgang-Pauli-Strasse 27, CH-8093 Zurich (Switzerland); and others

2015-12-20

The census of exoplanets is incomplete for orbital distances larger than 1 AU. Here, we present 41 long-period planet candidates in 38 systems identified by Planet Hunters based on Kepler archival data (Q0–Q17). Among them, 17 exhibit only one transit, 14 have two visible transits, and 10 have more than three visible transits. For planet candidates with only one visible transit, we estimate their orbital periods based on transit duration and host star properties. The majority of the planet candidates in this work (75%) have orbital periods that correspond to distances of 1–3 AU from their host stars. We conduct follow-up imaging and spectroscopic observations to validate and characterize planet host stars. In total, we obtain adaptive optics images for 33 stars to search for possible blending sources. Six stars have stellar companions within 4″. We obtain high-resolution spectra for 6 stars to determine their physical properties. Stellar properties for other stars are obtained from the NASA Exoplanet Archive and the Kepler Stellar Catalog by Huber et al. We validate 7 planet candidates that have planet confidence over 0.997 (3σ level). These validated planets include 3 single-transit planets (KIC-3558849b, KIC-5951458b, and KIC-8540376c), 3 planets with double transits (KIC-8540376b, KIC-9663113b, and KIC-10525077b), and 1 planet with four transits (KIC-5437945b). This work provides assessment regarding the existence of planets at wide separations and the associated false positive rate for transiting observation (17%–33%). More than half of the long-period planets with at least three transits in this paper exhibit transit timing variations up to 41 hr, which suggest additional components that dynamically interact with the transiting planet candidates. The nature of these components can be determined by follow-up radial velocity and transit observations.

Inward migration of the TRAPPIST-1 planets as inferred from their water-rich compositions

Science.gov (United States)

Unterborn, Cayman T.; Desch, Steven J.; Hinkel, Natalie R.; Lorenzo, Alejandro

2018-04-01

Multiple planet systems provide an ideal laboratory for probing exoplanet composition, formation history and potential habitability. For the TRAPPIST-1 planets, the planetary radii are well established from transits1,2, with reasonable mass estimates coming from transit timing variations2,3 and dynamical modelling4. The low bulk densities of the TRAPPIST-1 planets demand substantial volatile content. Here we show, using mass-radius-composition models, that TRAPPIST-1f and g probably contain substantial (≥50 wt%) water/ice, with TRAPPIST-1 b and c being significantly drier (≤15 wt%). We propose that this gradient of water mass fractions implies that planets f and g formed outside the primordial snow line whereas b and c formed within it. We find that, compared with planets in our Solar System that also formed within the snow line, TRAPPIST-1b and c contain hundreds more oceans of water. We demonstrate that the extent and timescale of migration in the TRAPPIST-1 system depends on how rapidly the planets formed and the relative location of the primordial snow line. This work provides a framework for understanding the differences between the protoplanetary disks of our Solar System versus M dwarfs. Our results provide key insights into the volatile budgets, timescales of planet formation and migration history of M dwarf systems, probably the most common type of planetary host in the Galaxy.

Maximizing the TESS Mission’s Yield of Long-Period Planets

Science.gov (United States)

Dragomir, Diana; Gaudi, B. Scott; Villanueva, Steven; Crossfield, Ian; Huang, Xu; Ribas, Ignasi; Quinn, Samuel

2018-01-01

The upcoming TESS mission will discover thousands of transiting planets around bright stars. However, during its primary mission the satellite will observe most of the sky for just 27 days (and for at most one year even in its continuous viewing zones near the ecliptic poles), thus limiting the mission’s yield of long-period planets that show three or more transits in the TESS light curves. By also pursuing single- and double-transit events, we can increase by several hundred the number of planets with periods longer than 10 days that TESS will discover. I will show how strategic planning and the judicious use of follow-up observations can confirm these planets and refine their ephemerides. Through this program, we will generate a sample of long-period planets transiting bright stars that are ripe for detailed characterization studies such as mass measurements and atmospheric observations. In turn, these studies will provide important constraints on the composition and formation of long-period planets.

Simulated JWST/NIRISS Transit Spectroscopy of Anticipated Tess Planets Compared to Select Discoveries from Space-based and Ground-based Surveys

Science.gov (United States)

Louie, Dana R.; Deming, Drake; Albert, Loic; Bouma, L. G.; Bean, Jacob; Lopez-Morales, Mercedes

2018-04-01

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) will embark in 2018 on a 2 year wide-field survey mission, discovering over a thousand terrestrial, super-Earth and sub-Neptune-sized exoplanets ({R}pl}≤slant 4 {R}\\oplus ) potentially suitable for follow-up observations using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). This work aims to understand the suitability of anticipated TESS planet discoveries for atmospheric characterization by JWST’s Near InfraRed Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS) by employing a simulation tool to estimate the signal-to-noise (S/N) achievable in transmission spectroscopy. We applied this tool to Monte Carlo predictions of the TESS expected planet yield and then compared the S/N for anticipated TESS discoveries to our estimates of S/N for 18 known exoplanets. We analyzed the sensitivity of our results to planetary composition, cloud cover, and presence of an observational noise floor. We find that several hundred anticipated TESS discoveries with radii 1.5 {R}\\oplus R}pl}≤slant 2.5 {R}\\oplus will produce S/N higher than currently known exoplanets in this radius regime, such as K2-3b or K2-3c. In the terrestrial planet regime, we find that only a few anticipated TESS discoveries will result in higher S/N than currently known exoplanets, such as the TRAPPIST-1 planets, GJ1132b, and LHS1140b. However, we emphasize that this outcome is based upon Kepler-derived occurrence rates, and that co-planar compact multi-planet systems (e.g., TRAPPIST-1) may be under-represented in the predicted TESS planet yield. Finally, we apply our calculations to estimate the required magnitude of a JWST follow-up program devoted to mapping the transition region between hydrogen-dominated and high molecular weight atmospheres. We find that a modest observing program of between 60 and 100 hr of charged JWST time can define the nature of that transition (e.g., step function versus a power law).

Trapping planets in an evolving protoplanetary disk: preferred time, locations and planet mass

OpenAIRE

Baillié, Kévin; Charnoz, Sébastien; Pantin, Éric

2016-01-01

Planet traps are necessary to prevent forming planets from falling onto their host star by type I migration. Surface mass density and temperature gradient irregularities favor the apparition of traps and deserts. Such features are found at the dust sublimation lines and heat transition barriers. We study how planets may remain trapped or escape as they grow and as the disk evolves. We model the temporal viscous evolution of a protoplanetary disk by coupling its dynamics, thermodynamics, geome...

TESTING IN SITU ASSEMBLY WITH THE KEPLER PLANET CANDIDATE SAMPLE

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hansen, Brad M. S. [Department of Physics and Astronomy and Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095 (United States); Murray, Norm, E-mail: hansen@astro.ucla.edu, E-mail: murray@cita.utoronto.ca [Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, 60 St. George Street, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3H8 (Canada)

2013-09-20

We present a Monte Carlo model for the structure of low-mass (total mass <25 M{sub ⊕}) planetary systems that form by the in situ gravitational assembly of planetary embryos into final planets. Our model includes distributions of mass, eccentricity, inclination, and period spacing that are based on the simulation of a disk of 20 M{sub ⊕}, forming planets around a solar-mass star, and assuming a power-law surface density distribution that drops with distance a as ∝ a {sup –1.5}. The output of the Monte Carlo model is then subjected to the selection effects that mimic the observations of a transiting planet search such as that performed by the Kepler satellite. The resulting comparison of the output to the properties of the observed sample yields an encouraging agreement in terms of the relative frequencies of multiple-planet systems and the distribution of the mutual inclinations when moderate tidal circularization is taken into account. The broad features of the period distribution and radius distribution can also be matched within this framework, although the model underpredicts the distribution of small period ratios. This likely indicates that some dissipation is still required in the formation process. The most striking deviation between the model and observations is in the ratio of single to multiple systems in that there are roughly 50% more single-planet candidates observed than are produced in any model population. This suggests that some systems must suffer additional attrition to reduce the number of planets or increase the range of inclinations.

A Population of Very-Hot Super-Earths in Multiple-Planet Systems Should be Uncovered by Kepler

OpenAIRE

Schlaufman, Kevin C.; Lin, D. N. C.; Ida, S.

2010-01-01

We simulate a Kepler-like observation of a theoretical exoplanet population and we show that the observed orbital period distribution of the Kepler giant planet candidates is best matched by an average stellar specific dissipation function Q_* in the interval 10^6 ~< Q_* ~< 10^7. In that situation, the few super-Earths that are driven to orbital periods P < 1 day by dynamical interactions in multiple-planet systems will survive tidal disruption for a significant fraction of the main-sequence ...

Two Earth-sized planets orbiting Kepler-20.

Science.gov (United States)

Fressin, Francois; Torres, Guillermo; Rowe, Jason F; Charbonneau, David; Rogers, Leslie A; Ballard, Sarah; Batalha, Natalie M; Borucki, William J; Bryson, Stephen T; Buchhave, Lars A; Ciardi, David R; Désert, Jean-Michel; Dressing, Courtney D; Fabrycky, Daniel C; Ford, Eric B; Gautier, Thomas N; Henze, Christopher E; Holman, Matthew J; Howard, Andrew; Howell, Steve B; Jenkins, Jon M; Koch, David G; Latham, David W; Lissauer, Jack J; Marcy, Geoffrey W; Quinn, Samuel N; Ragozzine, Darin; Sasselov, Dimitar D; Seager, Sara; Barclay, Thomas; Mullally, Fergal; Seader, Shawn E; Still, Martin; Twicken, Joseph D; Thompson, Susan E; Uddin, Kamal

2011-12-20

Since the discovery of the first extrasolar giant planets around Sun-like stars, evolving observational capabilities have brought us closer to the detection of true Earth analogues. The size of an exoplanet can be determined when it periodically passes in front of (transits) its parent star, causing a decrease in starlight proportional to its radius. The smallest exoplanet hitherto discovered has a radius 1.42 times that of the Earth's radius (R(⊕)), and hence has 2.9 times its volume. Here we report the discovery of two planets, one Earth-sized (1.03R(⊕)) and the other smaller than the Earth (0.87R(⊕)), orbiting the star Kepler-20, which is already known to host three other, larger, transiting planets. The gravitational pull of the new planets on the parent star is too small to measure with current instrumentation. We apply a statistical method to show that the likelihood of the planetary interpretation of the transit signals is more than three orders of magnitude larger than that of the alternative hypothesis that the signals result from an eclipsing binary star. Theoretical considerations imply that these planets are rocky, with a composition of iron and silicate. The outer planet could have developed a thick water vapour atmosphere.

Two planetary systems with transiting Earth-size and super-Earth planets orbiting late-type dwarf stars

Science.gov (United States)

Alonso, E. Díez; Hernández, J. I. González; Suárez Gómez, S. L.; Aguado, D. S.; González Gutiérrez, C.; Suárez Mascareño, A.; Cabrera-Lavers, A.; González-Nuevo, J.; Toledo-Padrón, B.; Gracia, J.; de Cos Juez, F. J.; Rebolo, R.

2018-06-01

We present two new planetary systems found around cool dwarf stars with data from the K2 mission. The first system was found in K2-XX1 (EPIC 248545986), characterized in this work as M3.0V and observed in the 14th campaign of K2. It consists of three Earth-size transiting planets with radii of 1.1, 1.0 and 1.1 R⊕, showing a compact configuration with orbital periods of 5.24, 7.78 and 10.1 days, close to 2:3:4 resonance. The second was found in K2-XX2 (EPIC 249801827), characterized in this work as M0.5V and observed in the 15th campaign. It consists of two transiting super-Earths with radii 2.0 and 1.8 R⊕ and orbital periods of 6.03 and 20.5 days. The equilibrium temperatures of the atmospheres of these planets are estimated to be in the range of 380-600 K and the amplitudes of signals in transmission spectroscopy are estimated at ˜ 10 ppm.

Planet hunters. VI. An independent characterization of KOI-351 and several long period planet candidates from the Kepler archival data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schmitt, Joseph R.; Wang, Ji; Fischer, Debra A.; Moriarty, John C.; Boyajian, Tabetha S.; Jek, Kian J.; LaCourse, Daryll; Omohundro, Mark R.; Winarski, Troy; Goodman, Samuel Jon; Jebson, Tony; Schwengeler, Hans Martin; Paterson, David A.; Schwamb, Megan E.; Lintott, Chris; Simpson, Robert; Lynn, Stuart; Smith, Arfon M.; Parrish, Michael; Schawinski, Kevin

2014-01-01

We report the discovery of 14 new transiting planet candidates in the Kepler field from the Planet Hunters citizen science program. None of these candidates overlapped with Kepler Objects of Interest (KOIs) at the time of submission. We report the discovery of one more addition to the six planet candidate system around KOI-351, making it the only seven planet candidate system from Kepler. Additionally, KOI-351 bears some resemblance to our own solar system, with the inner five planets ranging from Earth to mini-Neptune radii and the outer planets being gas giants; however, this system is very compact, with all seven planet candidates orbiting ≲ 1 AU from their host star. A Hill stability test and an orbital integration of the system shows that the system is stable. Furthermore, we significantly add to the population of long period transiting planets; periods range from 124 to 904 days, eight of them more than one Earth year long. Seven of these 14 candidates reside in their host star's habitable zone.

Identifying Young Kepler Planet Host Stars from Keck–HIRES Spectra of Lithium

Science.gov (United States)

Berger, Travis A.; Howard, Andrew W.; Boesgaard, Ann Merchant

2018-03-01

The lithium doublet at 6708 Å provides an age diagnostic for main sequence FGK dwarfs. We measured the abundance of lithium in 1305 stars with detected transiting planets from the Kepler mission using high-resolution spectroscopy. Our catalog of lithium measurements from this sample has a range of abundance from A(Li) = 3.11 ± 0.07 to an upper limit of ‑0.84 dex. For a magnitude-limited sample that comprises 960 of the 1305 stars, our Keck–HIRES spectra have a median signal-to-noise ratio of 45 per pixel at ∼6700 Å with spectral resolution \\tfrac{λ }{{{Δ }}λ } = R = 55,000. We identify 80 young stars that have A(Li) values greater than the Hyades at their respective effective temperatures; these stars are younger than ∼650 Myr, the approximate age of the Hyades. We then compare the distribution of A(Li) with planet size, multiplicity, orbital period, and insolation flux. We find larger planets preferentially in younger systems, with an A–D two-sided test p-value = 0.002, a > 3σ confidence that the older and younger planet samples do not come from the same parent distribution. This is consistent with planet inflation/photoevaporation at early ages. The other planet parameters (Kepler planet multiplicity, orbital period, and insolation flux) are uncorrelated with age. Based on observations obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated jointly by the University of California and the California Institute of Technology. Keck time has been granted by the University of Hawaii, the University of California, and Caltech.

Water vapor in the spectrum of the extrasolar planet HD 189733b. I. The transit

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McCullough, P. R.; Crouzet, N.; Deming, D.; Madhusudhan, N.

2014-01-01

We report near-infrared spectroscopy of the gas giant planet HD 189733b in transit. We used the Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Camera 3 (HST WFC3) with its G141 grism covering 1.1 μm to 1.7 μm and spatially scanned the image across the detector at 2'' s –1 . When smoothed to 75 nm bins, the local maxima of the transit depths in the 1.15 μm and 1.4 μm water vapor features are, respectively, 83 ± 53 ppm and 200 ± 47 ppm greater than the local minimum at 1.3 μm. We compare the WFC3 spectrum with the composite transit spectrum of HD 189733b assembled by Pont et al., extending from 0.3 μm to 24 μm. Although the water vapor features in the WFC3 spectrum are compatible with the model of non-absorbing, Rayleigh-scattering dust in the planetary atmosphere, we also re-interpret the available data with a clear planetary atmosphere. In the latter interpretation, the slope of increasing transit depth with shorter wavelengths from the near infrared, through the visible, and into the ultraviolet is caused by unocculted star spots, with a smaller contribution of Rayleigh scattering by molecular hydrogen in the planet's atmosphere. At relevant pressures along the terminator, our model planetary atmosphere's temperature is ∼700 K, which is below the condensation temperatures of sodium- and potassium-bearing molecules, causing the broad wings of the spectral lines of Na I and K I at 0.589 μm and 0.769 μm to be weak.

Water vapor in the spectrum of the extrasolar planet HD 189733b. I. The transit

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

McCullough, P. R.; Crouzet, N. [Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States); Deming, D. [Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 (United States); Madhusudhan, N., E-mail: pmcc@stsci.edu [Yale Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511 (United States)

2014-08-10

We report near-infrared spectroscopy of the gas giant planet HD 189733b in transit. We used the Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Camera 3 (HST WFC3) with its G141 grism covering 1.1 μm to 1.7 μm and spatially scanned the image across the detector at 2'' s{sup –1}. When smoothed to 75 nm bins, the local maxima of the transit depths in the 1.15 μm and 1.4 μm water vapor features are, respectively, 83 ± 53 ppm and 200 ± 47 ppm greater than the local minimum at 1.3 μm. We compare the WFC3 spectrum with the composite transit spectrum of HD 189733b assembled by Pont et al., extending from 0.3 μm to 24 μm. Although the water vapor features in the WFC3 spectrum are compatible with the model of non-absorbing, Rayleigh-scattering dust in the planetary atmosphere, we also re-interpret the available data with a clear planetary atmosphere. In the latter interpretation, the slope of increasing transit depth with shorter wavelengths from the near infrared, through the visible, and into the ultraviolet is caused by unocculted star spots, with a smaller contribution of Rayleigh scattering by molecular hydrogen in the planet's atmosphere. At relevant pressures along the terminator, our model planetary atmosphere's temperature is ∼700 K, which is below the condensation temperatures of sodium- and potassium-bearing molecules, causing the broad wings of the spectral lines of Na I and K I at 0.589 μm and 0.769 μm to be weak.

Kepler-77b: a very low albedo, Saturn-mass transiting planet around a metal-rich solar-like star

Science.gov (United States)

Gandolfi, D.; Parviainen, H.; Fridlund, M.; Hatzes, A. P.; Deeg, H. J.; Frasca, A.; Lanza, A. F.; Prada Moroni, P. G.; Tognelli, E.; McQuillan, A.; Aigrain, S.; Alonso, R.; Antoci, V.; Cabrera, J.; Carone, L.; Csizmadia, Sz.; Djupvik, A. A.; Guenther, E. W.; Jessen-Hansen, J.; Ofir, A.; Telting, J.

2013-09-01

We report the discovery of Kepler-77b (alias KOI-127.01), a Saturn-mass transiting planet in a 3.6-day orbit around a metal-rich solar-like star. We combined the publicly available Kepler photometry (quarters 1-13) with high-resolution spectroscopy from the Sandiford at McDonald and FIES at NOT spectrographs. We derived the system parameters via a simultaneous joint fit to the photometric and radial velocity measurements. Our analysis is based on the Bayesian approach and is carried out by sampling the parameter posterior distributions using a Markov chain Monte Carlo simulation. Kepler-77b is a moderately inflated planet with a mass of Mp = 0.430 ± 0.032 MJup, a radius of Rp = 0.960 ± 0.016 RJup, and a bulk density of ρp = 0.603 ± 0.055 g cm-3. It orbits a slowly rotating (Prot = 36 ± 6 days) G5 V star with M⋆ = 0.95 ± 0.04 M⊙, R⋆ = 0.99 ± 0.02 R⊙, Teff = 5520 ± 60 K, [M/H] = 0.20 ± 0.05 dex, that has an age of 7.5 ± 2.0 Gyr. The lack of detectable planetary occultation with a depth higher than ~10 ppm implies a planet geometric and Bond albedo of Ag ≤ 0.087 ± 0.008 and AB ≤ 0.058 ± 0.006, respectively, placing Kepler-77b among the gas-giant planets with the lowest albedo known so far. We found neither additional planetary transit signals nor transit-timing variations at a level of ~0.5 min, in accordance with the trend that close-in gas giant planets seem to belong to single-planet systems. The 106 transitsobserved in short-cadence mode by Kepler for nearly 1.2 years show no detectable signatures of the planet's passage in front of starspots. We explored the implications of the absence of detectable spot-crossing events for the inclination of the stellar spin-axis, the sky-projected spin-orbit obliquity, and the latitude of magnetically active regions. Based on observations obtained with the 2.1-m Otto Struve telescope at McDonald Observatory, Texas, USA.Based on observations obtained with the Nordic Optical Telescope, operated on the

Planet Detection: The Kepler Mission

Science.gov (United States)

Jenkins, Jon M.; Smith, Jeffrey C.; Tenenbaum, Peter; Twicken, Joseph D.; Van Cleve, Jeffrey

2012-03-01

The search for exoplanets is one of the hottest topics in astronomy and astrophysics in the twenty-first century, capturing the public's attention as well as that of the astronomical community. This nascent field was conceived in 1989 with the discovery of a candidate planetary companion to HD114762 [35] and was born in 1995 with the discovery of the first extrasolar planet 51 Peg-b [37] orbiting a main sequence star. As of March, 2011, over 500 exoplanets have been discovered* and 106 are known to transit or cross their host star, as viewed from Earth. Of these transiting planets, 15 have been announced by the Kepler Mission, which was launched into an Earth-trailing, heliocentric orbit in March, 2009 [1,4,6,15,18,20,22,31,32,34,36,43]. In addition, over 1200 candidate transiting planets have already been detected by Kepler [5], and vigorous follow-up observations are being conducted to vet these candidates. As the false-positive rate for Kepler is expected to be quite low [39], Kepler has effectively tripled the number of known exoplanets. Moreover, Kepler will provide an unprecedented data set in terms of photometric precision, duration, contiguity, and number of stars. Kepler's primary science objective is to determine the frequency of Earth-size planets transiting their Sun-like host stars in the habitable zone, that range of orbital distances for which liquid water would pool on the surface of a terrestrial planet such as Earth, Mars, or Venus. This daunting task demands an instrument capable of measuring the light output from each of over 100,000 stars simultaneously with an unprecedented photometric precision of 20 parts per million (ppm) at 6.5-h intervals. The large number of stars is required because the probability of the geometrical alignment of planetary orbits that permit observation of transits is the ratio of the size of the star to the size of the planetary orbit. For Earth-like planets in 1-astronomical unit (AU) orbits† about sun-like stars

WTS1 b: The first planet detected in the WFCAM Transit Survey

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cruz P.

2013-04-01

Full Text Available We report the discovery of WTS1 b, the first extrasolar planet found by the WFCAM Transit Survey. For one of the most promising transiting candidates, high-resolution spectra taken at the Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET allowed us to estimate the spectroscopic parameters of the host star, a late-F main sequence dwarf (V = 16.13, and to measure its radial velocity variations. The combined analysis of the light curves and spectroscopic data resulted in an orbital period of the companion of 3.35 days, a planetary mass of 4.01 ± 0.35 MJ, and a planetary radius of 1.49 +0.16-0.18 RJ. WTS1 b has one of the largest radius anomalies among the known hot Jupiters in the mass range 3–5 MJ.

The hottest planet.

Science.gov (United States)

Harrington, Joseph; Luszcz, Statia; Seager, Sara; Deming, Drake; Richardson, L Jeremy

2007-06-07

Of the over 200 known extrasolar planets, just 14 pass in front of and behind their parent stars as seen from Earth. This fortuitous geometry allows direct determination of many planetary properties. Previous reports of planetary thermal emission give fluxes that are roughly consistent with predictions based on thermal equilibrium with the planets' received radiation, assuming a Bond albedo of approximately 0.3. Here we report direct detection of thermal emission from the smallest known transiting planet, HD 149026b, that indicates a brightness temperature (an expression of flux) of 2,300 +/- 200 K at 8 microm. The planet's predicted temperature for uniform, spherical, blackbody emission and zero albedo (unprecedented for planets) is 1,741 K. As models with non-zero albedo are cooler, this essentially eliminates uniform blackbody models, and may also require an albedo lower than any measured for a planet, very strong 8 microm emission, strong temporal variability, or a heat source other than stellar radiation. On the other hand, an instantaneous re-emission blackbody model, in which each patch of surface area instantly re-emits all received light, matches the data. This planet is known to be enriched in heavy elements, which may give rise to novel atmospheric properties yet to be investigated.

GEMINI PLANET IMAGER SPECTROSCOPY OF THE HR 8799 PLANETS c AND d

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ingraham, Patrick; Macintosh, Bruce; Marley, Mark S.; Saumon, Didier; Marois, Christian; Dunn, Jennifer; Erikson, Darren; Barman, Travis; Bauman, Brian; Burrows, Adam; Chilcote, Jeffrey K.; Fitzgerald, Michael P.; De Rosa, Robert J.; Dillon, Daren; Gavel, Donald; Doyon, René; Goodsell, Stephen J.; Hartung, Markus; Hibon, Pascale; Graham, James R.

2014-01-01

During the first-light run of the Gemini Planet Imager we obtained K-band spectra of exoplanets HR 8799 c and d. Analysis of the spectra indicates that planet d may be warmer than planet c. Comparisons to recent patchy cloud models and previously obtained observations over multiple wavelengths confirm that thick clouds combined with horizontal variation in the cloud cover generally reproduce the planets' spectral energy distributions. When combined with the 3 to 4 μm photometric data points, the observations provide strong constraints on the atmospheric methane content for both planets. The data also provide further evidence that future modeling efforts must include cloud opacity, possibly including cloud holes, disequilibrium chemistry, and super-solar metallicity

PLANET-PLANET SCATTERING LEADS TO TIGHTLY PACKED PLANETARY SYSTEMS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Raymond, Sean N.; Barnes, Rory; Veras, Dimitri; Armitage, Philip J.; Gorelick, Noel; Greenberg, Richard

2009-01-01

The known extrasolar multiple-planet systems share a surprising dynamical attribute: they cluster just beyond the Hill stability boundary. Here we show that the planet-planet scattering model, which naturally explains the observed exoplanet eccentricity distribution, can reproduce the observed distribution of dynamical configurations. We calculated how each of our scattered systems would appear over an appropriate range of viewing geometries; as Hill stability is weakly dependent on the masses, the mass-inclination degeneracy does not significantly affect our results. We consider a wide range of initial planetary mass distributions and find that some are poor fits to the observed systems. In fact, many of our scattering experiments overproduce systems very close to the stability boundary. The distribution of dynamical configurations of two-planet systems may provide better discrimination between scattering models than the distribution of eccentricity. Our results imply that, at least in their inner regions which are weakly affected by gas or planetesimal disks, planetary systems should be 'packed', with no large gaps between planets.

The Calan-Hertfordshire extrasolar planet search

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pinfield D.J.

2011-07-01

Full Text Available The detailed study of the exoplanetary systems HD189733 and HD209458 has given rise to a wealth of exciting information on the physics of exoplanetary atmospheres. To further our understanding of the make-up and processes within these atmospheres we require a larger sample of bright transiting planets. We have began a project to detect more bright transiting planets in the southern hemisphere by utilising precision radial-velocity measurements. We have observed a constrained sample of bright, inactive and metal-rich stars using the HARPS instrument and here we present the current status of this project, along with our first discoveries which include a brown dwarf/extreme-Jovian exoplanet found in the brown dwarf desert region around the star HD191760 and improved orbits for three other exoplanetary systems HD48265, HD143361 and HD154672. Finally, we briefly discuss the future of this project and the current prospects we have for discovering more bright transiting planets.

CANDIDATE PLANETS IN THE HABITABLE ZONES OF KEPLER STARS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gaidos, Eric

2013-01-01

A key goal of the Kepler mission is the discovery of Earth-size transiting planets in ''habitable zones'' where stellar irradiance maintains a temperate climate on an Earth-like planet. Robust estimates of planet radius and irradiance require accurate stellar parameters, but most Kepler systems are faint, making spectroscopy difficult and prioritization of targets desirable. The parameters of 2035 host stars were estimated by Bayesian analysis and the probabilities p HZ that 2738 candidate or confirmed planets orbit in the habitable zone were calculated. Dartmouth Stellar Evolution Program models were compared to photometry from the Kepler Input Catalog, priors for stellar mass, age, metallicity and distance, and planet transit duration. The analysis yielded probability density functions for calculating confidence intervals of planet radius and stellar irradiance, as well as p HZ . Sixty-two planets have p HZ > 0.5 and a most probable stellar irradiance within habitable zone limits. Fourteen of these have radii less than twice the Earth; the objects most resembling Earth in terms of radius and irradiance are KOIs 2626.01 and 3010.01, which orbit late K/M-type dwarf stars. The fraction of Kepler dwarf stars with Earth-size planets in the habitable zone (η ⊕ ) is 0.46, with a 95% confidence interval of 0.31-0.64. Parallaxes from the Gaia mission will reduce uncertainties by more than a factor of five and permit definitive assignments of transiting planets to the habitable zones of Kepler stars.

Characterization of Extrasolar Planets Using SOFIA

Science.gov (United States)

Deming, Drake

2010-01-01

Topics include: the landscape of extrasolar planets, why focus on transiting planets, some history and Spitzer results, problems in atmospheric structure or hot Jupiters and hot super Earths, what observations are needed to make progress, and what SOFIA can currently do and comments on optimized instruments.

Identifying Exoplanets with Deep Learning: A Five-planet Resonant Chain around Kepler-80 and an Eighth Planet around Kepler-90

Science.gov (United States)

Shallue, Christopher J.; Vanderburg, Andrew

2018-02-01

NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope was designed to determine the frequency of Earth-sized planets orbiting Sun-like stars, but these planets are on the very edge of the mission’s detection sensitivity. Accurately determining the occurrence rate of these planets will require automatically and accurately assessing the likelihood that individual candidates are indeed planets, even at low signal-to-noise ratios. We present a method for classifying potential planet signals using deep learning, a class of machine learning algorithms that have recently become state-of-the-art in a wide variety of tasks. We train a deep convolutional neural network to predict whether a given signal is a transiting exoplanet or a false positive caused by astrophysical or instrumental phenomena. Our model is highly effective at ranking individual candidates by the likelihood that they are indeed planets: 98.8% of the time it ranks plausible planet signals higher than false-positive signals in our test set. We apply our model to a new set of candidate signals that we identified in a search of known Kepler multi-planet systems. We statistically validate two new planets that are identified with high confidence by our model. One of these planets is part of a five-planet resonant chain around Kepler-80, with an orbital period closely matching the prediction by three-body Laplace relations. The other planet orbits Kepler-90, a star that was previously known to host seven transiting planets. Our discovery of an eighth planet brings Kepler-90 into a tie with our Sun as the star known to host the most planets.

CoRoT’s first seven planets: An overview*

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Barge P.

2011-07-01

Full Text Available The up to 150 day uninterrupted high-precision photometry of about 100000 stars – provided so far by the exoplanet channel of the CoRoT space telescope – gave a new perspective on the planet population of our galactic neighbourhood. The seven planets with very accurate parameters widen the range of known planet properties in almost any respect. Giant planets have been detected at low metallicity, rapidly rotating and active, spotted stars. CoRoT-3 populated the brown dwarf desert and closed the gap of measured physical properties between standard giant planets and very low mass stars. CoRoT extended the known range of planet masses down-to 5 Earth masses and up to 21 Jupiter masses, the radii to less than 2 Earth radii and up to the most inflated hot Jupiter found so far, and the periods of planets discovered by transits to 9 days. Two CoRoT planets have host stars with the lowest content of heavy elements known to show a transit hinting towards a different planet-host-star-metallicity relation then the one found by radial-velocity search programs. Finally the properties of the CoRoT-7b prove that terrestrial planets with a density close to Earth exist outside the Solar System. The detection of the secondary transit of CoRoT-1 at the 10−5-level and the very clear detection of the 1.7 Earth radii of CoRoT-7b at 3.5 10−4 relative flux are promising evidence of CoRoT being able to detect even smaller, Earth sized planets.

ALL SIX PLANETS KNOWN TO ORBIT KEPLER-11 HAVE LOW DENSITIES

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lissauer, Jack J.; Jontof-Hutter, Daniel; Rowe, Jason F.; Howell, Steve B.; Jenkins, Jon M. [NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States); Fabrycky, Daniel C. [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, 5640 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637 (United States); Lopez, Eric D.; Fortney, Jonathan J. [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 (United States); Agol, Eric [Department of Astronomy, Box 351580, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195 (United States); Marcy, Geoffrey W.; Isaacson, Howard; Kolbl, Rea [Astronomy Department, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Deck, Katherine M. [Department of Physics and Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States); Fischer, Debra A. [Department of Astronomy, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-8101 (United States); Sasselov, Dimitar [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Short, Donald R. [Department of Mathematics, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA 92182 (United States); Welsh, William F., E-mail: Jack.Lissauer@nasa.gov [Astronomy Department, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA 92182 (United States)

2013-06-20

The Kepler-11 planetary system contains six transiting planets ranging in size from 1.8 to 4.2 times the radius of Earth. Five of these planets orbit in a tightly packed configuration with periods between 10 and 47 days. We perform a dynamical analysis of the system based upon transit timing variations observed in more than three years of Kepler photometric data. Stellar parameters are derived using a combination of spectral classification and constraints on the star's density derived from transit profiles together with planetary eccentricity vectors provided by our dynamical study. Combining masses of the planets relative to the star from our dynamical study and radii of the planets relative to the star from transit depths together with deduced stellar properties yields measurements of the radii of all six planets, masses of the five inner planets, and an upper bound to the mass of the outermost planet, whose orbital period is 118 days. We find mass-radius combinations for all six planets that imply that substantial fractions of their volumes are occupied by constituents that are less dense than rock. Moreover, we examine the stability of these envelopes against photoevaporation and find that the compositions of at least the inner two planets have likely been significantly sculpted by mass loss. The Kepler-11 system contains the lowest mass exoplanets for which both mass and radius have been measured.

New Insights on Planet Formation in WASP-47 from a Simultaneous Analysis of Radial Velocities and Transit Timing Variations

Science.gov (United States)

Weiss, Lauren M.; Deck, Katherine M.; Sinukoff, Evan; Petigura, Erik A.; Agol, Eric; Lee, Eve J.; Becker, Juliette C.; Howard, Andrew W.; Isaacson, Howard; Crossfield, Ian J. M.; Fulton, Benjamin J.; Hirsch, Lea; Benneke, Björn

2017-06-01

Measuring precise planet masses, densities, and orbital dynamics in individual planetary systems is an important pathway toward understanding planet formation. The WASP-47 system has an unusual architecture that motivates a complex formation theory. The system includes a hot Jupiter (“b”) neighbored by interior (“e”) and exterior (“d”) sub-Neptunes, and a long-period eccentric giant planet (“c”). We simultaneously modeled transit times from the Kepler K2 mission and 118 radial velocities to determine the precise masses, densities, and Keplerian orbital elements of the WASP-47 planets. Combining RVs and TTVs provides a better estimate of the mass of planet d (13.6+/- 2.0 {M}\\oplus ) than that obtained with only RVs (12.75+/- 2.70 {M}\\oplus ) or TTVs (16.1+/- 3.8 {M}\\oplus ). Planets e and d have high densities for their size, consistent with a history of photoevaporation and/or formation in a volatile-poor environment. Through our RV and TTV analysis, we find that the planetary orbits have eccentricities similar to the solar system planets. The WASP-47 system has three similarities to our own solar system: (1) the planetary orbits are nearly circular and coplanar, (2) the planets are not trapped in mean motion resonances, and (3) the planets have diverse compositions. None of the current single-process exoplanet formation theories adequately reproduce these three characteristics of the WASP-47 system (or our solar system). We propose that WASP-47, like the solar system, formed in two stages: first, the giant planets formed in a gas-rich disk and migrated to their present locations, and second, the high-density sub-Neptunes formed in situ in a gas-poor environment.

Extrasolar planets searches today and tomorrow

CERN Multimedia

2000-01-01

So far the searches for extrasolar planets have found 40 planetary companions orbiting around nearby stars. In December 1999 a transit has been observed for one of them, providing the first independent confirmation of the reality of close-in planets as well as a measurement of its density. The techniques used to detect planets are limited and the detection threshold is biased but a first picture of the planet diversity and distribution emerges. Results of the search for extra-solar planets and their impacts on planetary formation will be reviewed. Future instruments are foreseen to detect Earth-like planets and possible signatures of organic activity. An overview of these future projects will be presented and more particularly the Darwin-IRSI mission studied by ESA for Horizon 2015.

Stability Limits of Circumbinary Planets: Is There a Pile-up in the Kepler CBPs?

Science.gov (United States)

Quarles, B.; Satyal, S.; Kostov, V.; Kaib, N.; Haghighipour, N.

2018-04-01

The stability limit for circumbinary planets (CBPs) is not well defined and can depend on initial parameters defining either the planetary orbit and/or the inner binary orbit. We expand on the work of Holman & Wiegert (1999) to develop numerical tools for quick, easy, and accurate determination of the stability limit. The results of our simulations, as well as our numerical tools, are available to the community through Zenodo and GitHub, respectively. We employ a grid interpolation method based on ∼150 million full N-body simulations of initially circular, coplanar systems and compare to the nine known Kepler CBP systems. Using a formalism from planet packing studies, we find that 55% of the Kepler CBP systems allow for an additional equal-mass planet to potentially exist on an interior orbit relative to the observed planet. Therefore, we do not find strong evidence for a pile-up in the Kepler CBP systems and more detections are needed to adequately characterize the formation mechanisms for the CBP population. Observations from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite are expected to substantially increase the number of detections using the unique geometry of CBP systems, where multiple transits can occur during a single conjunction.

Imaging Planet Formation Inside the Diffraction Limit

Science.gov (United States)

Sallum, Stephanie Elise

For decades, astronomers have used observations of mature planetary systems to constrain planet formation theories, beginning with our own solar system and now the thousands of known exoplanets. Recent advances in instrumentation have given us a direct view of some steps in the planet formation process, such as large-scale protostar and protoplanetary disk features and evolution. However, understanding the details of how planets accrete and interact with their environment requires direct observations of protoplanets themselves. Transition disks, protoplanetary disks with inner clearings that may be caused by forming planets, are the best targets for these studies. Their large distances, compared to the stars normally targeted for direct imaging of exoplanets, make protoplanet detection difficult and necessitate novel imaging techniques. In this dissertation, I describe the results of using non-redundant masking (NRM) to search for forming planets in transition disk clearings. I first present a data reduction pipeline that I wrote to this end, using example datasets and simulations to demonstrate reduction and imaging optimizations. I discuss two transition disk NRM case studies: T Cha and LkCa 15. In the case of T Cha, while we detect significant asymmetries, the data cannot be explained by orbiting companions. The fluxes and orbital motion of the LkCa 15 companion signals, however, can be naturally explained by protoplanets in the disk clearing. I use these datasets and simulated observations to illustrate the effects of scattered light from transition disk material on NRM protoplanet searches. I then demonstrate the utility of the dual-aperture Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer's NRM mode on the bright B[e] star MWC 349A. I discuss the implications of this work for planet formation studies as well as future prospects for NRM and related techniques on next generation instruments.

PASTIS: Bayesian extrasolar planet validation - I. General framework, models, and performance

Science.gov (United States)

Díaz, R. F.; Almenara, J. M.; Santerne, A.; Moutou, C.; Lethuillier, A.; Deleuil, M.

2014-06-01

A large fraction of the smallest transiting planet candidates discovered by the Kepler and CoRoT space missions cannot be confirmed by a dynamical measurement of the mass using currently available observing facilities. To establish their planetary nature, the concept of planet validation has been advanced. This technique compares the probability of the planetary hypothesis against that of all reasonably conceivable alternative false positive (FP) hypotheses. The candidate is considered as validated if the posterior probability of the planetary hypothesis is sufficiently larger than the sum of the probabilities of all FP scenarios. In this paper, we present PASTIS, the Planet Analysis and Small Transit Investigation Software, a tool designed to perform a rigorous model comparison of the hypotheses involved in the problem of planet validation, and to fully exploit the information available in the candidate light curves. PASTIS self-consistently models the transit light curves and follow-up observations. Its object-oriented structure offers a large flexibility for defining the scenarios to be compared. The performance is explored using artificial transit light curves of planets and FPs with a realistic error distribution obtained from a Kepler light curve. We find that data support the correct hypothesis strongly only when the signal is high enough (transit signal-to-noise ratio above 50 for the planet case) and remain inconclusive otherwise. PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars (PLATO) shall provide transits with high enough signal-to-noise ratio, but to establish the true nature of the vast majority of Kepler and CoRoT transit candidates additional data or strong reliance on hypotheses priors is needed.

EFFECTS OF DYNAMICAL EVOLUTION OF GIANT PLANETS ON SURVIVAL OF TERRESTRIAL PLANETS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matsumura, Soko; Ida, Shigeru; Nagasawa, Makiko

2013-01-01

The orbital distributions of currently observed extrasolar giant planets allow marginally stable orbits for hypothetical, terrestrial planets. In this paper, we propose that many of these systems may not have additional planets on these ''stable'' orbits, since past dynamical instability among giant planets could have removed them. We numerically investigate the effects of early evolution of multiple giant planets on the orbital stability of the inner, sub-Neptune-like planets which are modeled as test particles, and determine their dynamically unstable region. Previous studies have shown that the majority of such test particles are ejected out of the system as a result of close encounters with giant planets. Here, we show that secular perturbations from giant planets can remove test particles at least down to 10 times smaller than their minimum pericenter distance. Our results indicate that, unless the dynamical instability among giant planets is either absent or quiet like planet-planet collisions, most test particles down to ∼0.1 AU within the orbits of giant planets at a few AU may be gone. In fact, out of ∼30% of survived test particles, about three quarters belong to the planet-planet collision cases. We find a good agreement between our numerical results and the secular theory, and present a semi-analytical formula which estimates the dynamically unstable region of the test particles just from the evolution of giant planets. Finally, our numerical results agree well with the observations, and also predict the existence of hot rocky planets in eccentric giant planet systems.

Planet formation in Binaries

OpenAIRE

Thebault, Ph.; Haghighipour, N.

2014-01-01

Spurred by the discovery of numerous exoplanets in multiple systems, binaries have become in recent years one of the main topics in planet formation research. Numerous studies have investigated to what extent the presence of a stellar companion can affect the planet formation process. Such studies have implications that can reach beyond the sole context of binaries, as they allow to test certain aspects of the planet formation scenario by submitting them to extreme environments. We review her...

Extrasolar planets formation, detection and dynamics

CERN Document Server

Dvorak, Rudolf

2008-01-01

This latest, up-to-date resource for research on extrasolar planets covers formation, dynamics, atmospheres and detection. After a look at the formation of giant planets, the book goes on to discuss the formation and dynamics of planets in resonances, planets in double stars, atmospheres and habitable zones, detection via spectra and transits, and the history and prospects of ESPs as well as satellite projects.Edited by a renowned expert in solar system dynamics with chapters written by the leading experts in the method described -- from the US and Europe -- this is an ideal textbook for g

"Osiris"(HD209458b), an evaporating planet

OpenAIRE

Vidal-Madjar, Alfred; Etangs, Alain Lecavelier des

2003-01-01

Three transits of the planet orbiting the solar type star HD209458 were observed in the far UV at the wavelength of the HI Ly-alpha line. The planet size at this wavelength is equal to 4.3 R_Jup, i.e. larger than the planet Roche radius (3.6 R_Jup). Absorbing hydrogen atoms were found to be blueshifted by up to -130 km/s, exceeding the planet escape velocity. This implies that hydrogen atoms are escaping this ``hot Jupiter'' planet. An escape flux of >~ 10^10g/s is needed to explain the obser...

Towards the Rosetta Stone of planet formation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Schmidt T.O.B.

2011-02-01

Full Text Available Transiting exoplanets (TEPs observed just ~10 Myrs after formation of their host systems may serve as the Rosetta Stone for planet formation theories. They would give strong constraints on several aspects of planet formation, e.g. time-scales (planet formation would then be possible within 10 Myrs, the radius of the planet could indicate whether planets form by gravitational collapse (being larger when young or accretion growth (being smaller when young. We present a survey, the main goal of which is to find and then characterise TEPs in very young open clusters.

ASTEP South: An Antarctic Search for Transiting ExoPlanets around the celestial South pole

OpenAIRE

Crouzet , Nicolas; Guillot , Tristan; Agabi , Karim; Rivet , Jean-Pierre; Bondoux , Erick; Challita , Zalpha; Fanteï-Caujolle , Yan; Fressin , François; Mékarnia , Djamel; Schmider , François-Xavier; Valbousquet , Franck; Blazit , Alain; Bonhomme , Serge; Abe , Lyu; Daban , Jean-Baptiste

2009-01-01

ASTEP South is the first phase of the ASTEP project (Antarctic Search for Transiting ExoPlanets). The instrument is a fixed 10 cm refractor with a 4kx4k CCD camera in a thermalized box, pointing continuously a 3.88 degree x 3.88 degree field of view centered on the celestial South pole. ASTEP South became fully functional in June 2008 and obtained 1592 hours of data during the 2008 Antarctic winter. The data are of good quality but the analysis has to account for changes in the point spread f...

Kepler-423b: a half-Jupiter mass planet transiting a very old solar-like star

Science.gov (United States)

Gandolfi, D.; Parviainen, H.; Deeg, H. J.; Lanza, A. F.; Fridlund, M.; Prada Moroni, P. G.; Alonso, R.; Augusteijn, T.; Cabrera, J.; Evans, T.; Geier, S.; Hatzes, A. P.; Holczer, T.; Hoyer, S.; Kangas, T.; Mazeh, T.; Pagano, I.; Tal-Or, L.; Tingley, B.

2015-04-01

We report the spectroscopic confirmation of the Kepler object of interest KOI-183.01 (Kepler-423b), a half-Jupiter mass planet transiting an old solar-like star every 2.7 days. Our analysis is the first to combine the full Kepler photometry (quarters 1-17) with high-precision radial velocity measurements taken with the FIES spectrograph at the Nordic Optical Telescope. We simultaneously modelled the photometric and spectroscopic data-sets using Bayesian approach coupled with Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling. We found that the Kepler pre-search data conditioned light curve of Kepler-423 exhibits quarter-to-quarter systematic variations of the transit depth, with a peak-to-peak amplitude of ~4.3% and seasonal trends reoccurring every four quarters. We attributed these systematics to an incorrect assessment of the quarterly variation of the crowding metric. The host star Kepler-423 is a G4 dwarf with M⋆ = 0.85 ± 0.04 M⊙, R⋆ = 0.95 ± 0.04 R⊙, Teff= 5560 ± 80 K, [M/H] = - 0.10 ± 0.05 dex, and with an age of 11 ± 2 Gyr. The planet Kepler-423b has a mass of Mp= 0.595 ± 0.081MJup and a radius of Rp= 1.192 ± 0.052RJup, yielding a planetary bulk density of ρp = 0.459 ± 0.083 g cm-3. The radius of Kepler-423b is consistent with both theoretical models for irradiated coreless giant planets and expectations based on empirical laws. The inclination of the stellar spin axis suggests that the system is aligned along the line of sight. We detected a tentative secondary eclipse of the planet at a 2σ confidence level (ΔFec = 14.2 ± 6.6 ppm) and found that the orbit might have asmall non-zero eccentricity of 0.019+0.028-0.014. With a Bond albedo of AB = 0.037 ± 0.019, Kepler-423b is one of the gas-giant planets with the lowest albedo known so far. Based on observations obtained with the Nordic Optical Telescope, operated on the island of La Palma jointly by Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of

Alpha Elements' Effects on Planet Formation and the Hunt for Extragalactic Planets

Science.gov (United States)

Penny, Matthew; Rodriguez, Joseph E.; Beatty, Thomas; Zhou, George

2018-01-01

A star's likelihood of hosting a giant planet is well known to be strongly dependent on metallicity. However, little is known about what elements cause this correlation (e.g. bulk metals, iron, or alpha elements such as silicon and oxygen). This is likely because most planet searches target stars in the Galactic disk, and due to Galactic chemical evolution, alpha element abundances are themselves correlated with metallicity within a population. We investigate the feasibility of simultaneous transiting planet search towards the alpha-poor Sagittarius dwarf galaxy and alpha-rich Galactic bulge in a single field of view of DECam, that would enable a comparative study of planet frequency over an [alpha/Fe] baseline of ~0.4 dex. We show that a modestly sized survey could detect planet candidates in both populations, but that false positive rejection in Sgr Dwarf may be prohibitively expensive. Conversely, two-filter survey observations alone would be sufficient to rule out a large fraction of bulge false positives, enabling statistical validation of candidates with a modest follow-up investment. Although over a shorter [alpha/Fe] baseline, this survey would provide a test of whether it is alpha or iron that causes the planet metallicity correlation.

Kepler-68: Three Planets, One with a Density between that of Earth and Ice Giants

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gilliland, R.L.; Marcy, G.W.; Rowe, J.F.; Rogers, L.; Torres, G.; Fressin, F.; Lopez, E.D.; Buchhave, L.A.; Christensen-Dalsgaard, J.; Désert, J.M.; Henze, C.E.; Isaacson, H.; Jenkins, J.M.; Lissauer, J.J.; Chaplin, W.J.; Basu, S.; Metcalfe, T.S.; Elsworth, Y.; Handberg, R.; Hekker, S.; Huber, D.; Karoff, C.; Kjeldsen, H.; Lund, M.N.; Lundkvist, M.; Miglio, A.; Charbonneau, D.; Ford, E.B.; Fortney, J.J.; Haas, M.R.; Howard, A.W.; Howell, S.B.; Ragozzine, D.; Thompson, S.E.

2013-01-01

NASA's Kepler Mission has revealed two transiting planets orbiting Kepler-68. Follow-up Doppler measurements have established the mass of the innermost planet and revealed a third Jovian-mass planet orbiting beyond the two transiting planets. Kepler-68b, in a 5.4 day orbit, has Mp_{\\rm

Kepler AutoRegressive Planet Search (KARPS)

Science.gov (United States)

Caceres, Gabriel

2018-01-01

One of the main obstacles in detecting faint planetary transits is the intrinsic stellar variability of the host star. The Kepler AutoRegressive Planet Search (KARPS) project implements statistical methodology associated with autoregressive processes (in particular, ARIMA and ARFIMA) to model stellar lightcurves in order to improve exoplanet transit detection. We also develop a novel Transit Comb Filter (TCF) applied to the AR residuals which provides a periodogram analogous to the standard Box-fitting Least Squares (BLS) periodogram. We train a random forest classifier on known Kepler Objects of Interest (KOIs) using select features from different stages of this analysis, and then use ROC curves to define and calibrate the criteria to recover the KOI planet candidates with high fidelity. These statistical methods are detailed in a contributed poster (Feigelson et al., this meeting).These procedures are applied to the full DR25 dataset of NASA’s Kepler mission. Using the classification criteria, a vast majority of known KOIs are recovered and dozens of new KARPS Candidate Planets (KCPs) discovered, including ultra-short period exoplanets. The KCPs will be briefly presented and discussed.

High-resolution multi-band imaging for validation and characterization of small Kepler planets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Everett, Mark E.; Silva, David R.; Barclay, Thomas; Howell, Steve B.; Ciardi, David R.; Horch, Elliott P.; Crepp, Justin R.

2015-01-01

High-resolution ground-based optical speckle and near-infrared adaptive optics images are taken to search for stars in close angular proximity to host stars of candidate planets identified by the NASA Kepler Mission. Neighboring stars are a potential source of false positive signals. These stars also blend into Kepler light curves, affecting estimated planet properties, and are important for an understanding of planets in multiple star systems. Deep images with high angular resolution help to validate candidate planets by excluding potential background eclipsing binaries as the source of the transit signals. A study of 18 Kepler Object of Interest stars hosting a total of 28 candidate and validated planets is presented. Validation levels are determined for 18 planets against the likelihood of a false positive from a background eclipsing binary. Most of these are validated at the 99% level or higher, including five newly validated planets in two systems: Kepler-430 and Kepler-431. The stellar properties of the candidate host stars are determined by supplementing existing literature values with new spectroscopic characterizations. Close neighbors of seven of these stars are examined using multi-wavelength photometry to determine their nature and influence on the candidate planet properties. Most of the close neighbors appear to be gravitationally bound secondaries, while a few are best explained as closely co-aligned field stars. Revised planet properties are derived for each candidate and validated planet, including cases where the close neighbors are the potential host stars.

Kepler Planet Detection Metrics: Window and One-Sigma Depth Functions for Data Release 25

Science.gov (United States)

Burke, Christopher J.; Catanzarite, Joseph

2017-01-01

This document describes the window and one-sigma depth functions relevant to the Transiting Planet Search (TPS) algorithm in the Kepler pipeline (Jenkins 2002; Jenkins et al. 2017). The window function specifies the fraction of unique orbital ephemeris epochs over which three transits are observable as a function of orbital period. In this context, the epoch and orbital period, together, comprise the ephemeris of an orbiting companion, and ephemerides with the same period are considered equivalent if their epochs differ by an integer multiple of the period. The one-sigma depth function specifies the depth of a signal (in ppm) for a given light curve that results in a one-sigma detection of a transit signature as a function of orbital period when averaged over all unique orbital ephemerides. These planet detection metrics quantify the ability of TPS to detect a transiting planet signature on a star-by-star basis. They are uniquely applicable to a specific Kepler data release, since they are dependent on the details of the light curves searched and the functionality of the TPS algorithm used to perform the search. This document describes the window and one-sigma depth functions relevant to Kepler Data Release 25 (DR25), where the data were processed (Thompson et al. 2016) and searched (Twicken et al. 2016) with the SOC 9.3 pipeline. In Section 4, we describe significant differences from those reported in Kepler Data Release 24 (Burke Seader 2016) and document our verification method.

The Scattering Outcomes of Kepler Circumbinary Planets: Planet Mass Ratio

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gong, Yan-Xiang; Ji, Jianghui, E-mail: yxgong@pmo.ac.cn, E-mail: jijh@pmo.ac.cn [CAS Key Laboratory of Planetary Sciences, Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008 (China)

2017-11-01

Recent studies reveal that the free eccentricities of Kepler-34b and Kepler-413b are much larger than their forced eccentricities, implying that scattering events may take place in their formation. The observed orbital configuration of Kepler-34b cannot be well reproduced in disk-driven migration models, whereas a two-planet scattering scenario can play a significant role of shaping the planetary configuration. These studies indicate that circumbinary planets discovered by Kepler may have experienced scattering process. In this work, we extensively investigate the scattering outcomes of circumbinary planets focusing on the effects of planet mass ratio . We find that the planetary mass ratio and the the initial relative locations of planets act as two important parameters that affect the eccentricity distribution of the surviving planets. As an application of our model, we discuss the observed orbital configurations of Kepler-34b and Kepler-413b. We first adopt the results from the disk-driven models as the initial conditions, then simulate the scattering process that occurs in the late evolution stage of circumbinary planets. We show that the present orbital configurations of Kepler-34b and Kepler-413b can be well reproduced when considering a two unequal-mass planet ejection model. Our work further suggests that some of the currently discovered circumbinary single-planet systems may be survivors of original multiple-planet systems. The disk-driven migration and scattering events occurring in the late stage both play an irreplaceable role in sculpting the final systems.

Beyond the Wobbles: Teaching Students About Detecting Planets with the Transit and Gravitational Microlensing Methods

Science.gov (United States)

Prather, Edward E.; Wallace, Colin Scott; Chambers, Timothy G.; Brissenden, Gina; Traub, Wesley A.; Greene, W. M.; Biferno, Anya A.; Rodriguez, Joshua

2015-01-01

Members of the Center for Astronomy Education (CAE) at the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory in collaboration with JPL scientists, visualization experts, and education and public outreach professionals with the Exoplanet Exploration Program (ExEP) have recently completed classroom field-testing of a new suite of educational materials to help learners better understand how extrasolar planets are detected using the transit and gravitational microlensing techniques. This collaboration has created a set of evidence-based Think-Pair-Share questions, Lecture-Tutorials, animations, presentation slides, and instrucotrs guide that can be used together or separately to actively engage learners in reasoning about the data and scientific representations associated with these exciting new extrasolar planet detection methods. In this talk we present several of the conceptually challenging collaborative learning tasks that students encounter with this new suite of educational materials and some of the assessment questions we are using to assess the efficacy of their use in general education, college-level astronomy courses.

The fate of scattered planets

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bromley, Benjamin C. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Utah, 115 S 1400 E, Rm 201, Salt Lake City, UT 84112 (United States); Kenyon, Scott J., E-mail: bromley@physics.utah.edu, E-mail: skenyon@cfa.harvard.edu [Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)

2014-12-01

As gas giant planets evolve, they may scatter other planets far from their original orbits to produce hot Jupiters or rogue planets that are not gravitationally bound to any star. Here, we consider planets cast out to large orbital distances on eccentric, bound orbits through a gaseous disk. With simple numerical models, we show that super-Earths can interact with the gas through dynamical friction to settle in the remote outer regions of a planetary system. Outcomes depend on planet mass, the initial scattered orbit, and the evolution of the time-dependent disk. Efficient orbital damping by dynamical friction requires planets at least as massive as the Earth. More massive, longer-lived disks damp eccentricities more efficiently than less massive, short-lived ones. Transition disks with an expanding inner cavity can circularize orbits at larger distances than disks that experience a global (homologous) decay in surface density. Thus, orbits of remote planets may reveal the evolutionary history of their primordial gas disks. A remote planet with an orbital distance ∼100 AU from the Sun is plausible and might explain correlations in the orbital parameters of several distant trans-Neptunian objects.

FUNDAMENTAL PROPERTIES OF KEPLER PLANET-CANDIDATE HOST STARS USING ASTEROSEISMOLOGY

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Huber, Daniel; Lissauer, Jack J.; Rowe, Jason F. [NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States); Chaplin, William J. [School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT (United Kingdom); Christensen-Dalsgaard, Jorgen; Kjeldsen, Hans; Handberg, Rasmus; Karoff, Christoffer; Lund, Mikkel N.; Lundkvist, Mia [Stellar Astrophysics Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 120, DK-8000 Aarhus C (Denmark); Gilliland, Ronald L. [Center for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds, The Pennsylvania State University, 525 Davey Lab, University Park, PA 16802 (United States); Buchhave, Lars A. [Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, DK-2100 Copenhagen (Denmark); Fischer, Debra A.; Basu, Sarbani [Department of Astronomy, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511 (United States); Sanchis-Ojeda, Roberto [Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States); Hekker, Saskia [Astronomical Institute ' ' Anton Pannekoek' ' , University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam (Netherlands); Howard, Andrew W. [Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States); Isaacson, Howard; Marcy, Geoffrey W. [Department of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Latham, David W., E-mail: daniel.huber@nasa.gov [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); and others

2013-04-20

We have used asteroseismology to determine fundamental properties for 66 Kepler planet-candidate host stars, with typical uncertainties of 3% and 7% in radius and mass, respectively. The results include new asteroseismic solutions for four host stars with confirmed planets (Kepler-4, Kepler-14, Kepler-23 and Kepler-25) and increase the total number of Kepler host stars with asteroseismic solutions to 77. A comparison with stellar properties in the planet-candidate catalog by Batalha et al. shows that radii for subgiants and giants obtained from spectroscopic follow-up are systematically too low by up to a factor of 1.5, while the properties for unevolved stars are in good agreement. We furthermore apply asteroseismology to confirm that a large majority of cool main-sequence hosts are indeed dwarfs and not misclassified giants. Using the revised stellar properties, we recalculate the radii for 107 planet candidates in our sample, and comment on candidates for which the radii change from a previously giant-planet/brown-dwarf/stellar regime to a sub-Jupiter size or vice versa. A comparison of stellar densities from asteroseismology with densities derived from transit models in Batalha et al. assuming circular orbits shows significant disagreement for more than half of the sample due to systematics in the modeled impact parameters or due to planet candidates that may be in eccentric orbits. Finally, we investigate tentative correlations between host-star masses and planet-candidate radii, orbital periods, and multiplicity, but caution that these results may be influenced by the small sample size and detection biases.

THE QUASIPERIODIC AUTOMATED TRANSIT SEARCH ALGORITHM

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carter, Joshua A.; Agol, Eric

2013-01-01

We present a new algorithm for detecting transiting extrasolar planets in time-series photometry. The Quasiperiodic Automated Transit Search (QATS) algorithm relaxes the usual assumption of strictly periodic transits by permitting a variable, but bounded, interval between successive transits. We show that this method is capable of detecting transiting planets with significant transit timing variations without any loss of significance— s mearing — as would be incurred with traditional algorithms; however, this is at the cost of a slightly increased stochastic background. The approximate times of transit are standard products of the QATS search. Despite the increased flexibility, we show that QATS has a run-time complexity that is comparable to traditional search codes and is comparably easy to implement. QATS is applicable to data having a nearly uninterrupted, uniform cadence and is therefore well suited to the modern class of space-based transit searches (e.g., Kepler, CoRoT). Applications of QATS include transiting planets in dynamically active multi-planet systems and transiting planets in stellar binary systems.

Reconfiguring Urban Sustainability Transitions, Analysing Multiplicity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mike Hodson

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Cities, and the networked infrastructures that sustain urban life, are seen as crucial sites for creating more sustainable futures. Yet, although there are many plans, the realisation of sustainable urban infrastructures on the ground is uneven. To develop better ways of understanding why this is the case, the paper makes a conceptual contribution by engaging with current understanding of urban sustainability transitions, using urban sustainable mobility as a reference point. It extends these insights to argue that urban transitions are not about technological or social innovation per se, but about how multiple innovations are experimented with, combined and reconfigured in existing urban contexts and how such processes are governed. There are potentially many ways in which urban sustainable mobility can be reconfigured contextually. Innovation is in the particular form of reconfiguration rather than individual technologies. To make analytical sense of this multiplicity, a preliminary framework is developed that offers the potential to think about urban transitions as contextual and reconfigurational. We argue that there is a need to embrace multiplicity and to understand its relationships to forms of reconfiguration, through empirical exploration and further theoretical and conceptual development. The preliminary framework is a contribution to doing so and we set out future directions for research.

Transit timing observations from Kepler. V. Transit timing variation candidates in the first sixteen months from polynomial models

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ford, E.B.; Ragozzine, D.; Holman, M.J.

2012-01-01

Transit timing variations provide a powerful tool for confirming and characterizing transiting planets, as well as detecting non-transiting planets. We report the results of an updated transit timing variation (TTV) analysis for 1481 planet candidates based on transit times measured during...... that several of these planet candidates could be confirmed and perhaps characterized with more detailed TTV analyses using publicly available Kepler observations. For many others, Kepler has observed a long-term TTV trend, but an extended Kepler mission will be required to characterize the system via TTVs. We...

Phase transitions in multiplicative competitive processes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shimazaki, Hideaki; Niebur, Ernst

2005-01-01

We introduce a discrete multiplicative process as a generic model of competition. Players with different abilities successively join the game and compete for finite resources. Emergence of dominant players and evolutionary development occur as a phase transition. The competitive dynamics underlying this transition is understood from a formal analogy to statistical mechanics. The theory is applicable to bacterial competition, predicting novel population dynamics near criticality

TIDAL EVOLUTION OF CLOSE-IN PLANETS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matsumura, Soko; Rasio, Frederic A.; Peale, Stanton J.

2010-01-01

Recent discoveries of several transiting planets with clearly non-zero eccentricities and some large obliquities started changing the simple picture of close-in planets having circular and well-aligned orbits. The two major scenarios that form such close-in planets are planet migration in a disk and planet-planet interactions combined with tidal dissipation. The former scenario can naturally produce a circular and low-obliquity orbit, while the latter implicitly assumes an initially highly eccentric and possibly high-obliquity orbit, which are then circularized and aligned via tidal dissipation. Most of these close-in planets experience orbital decay all the way to the Roche limit as previous studies showed. We investigate the tidal evolution of transiting planets on eccentric orbits, and find that there are two characteristic evolution paths for them, depending on the relative efficiency of tidal dissipation inside the star and the planet. Our study shows that each of these paths may correspond to migration and scattering scenarios. We further point out that the current observations may be consistent with the scattering scenario, where the circularization of an initially eccentric orbit occurs before the orbital decay primarily due to tidal dissipation in the planet, while the alignment of the stellar spin and orbit normal occurs on a similar timescale to the orbital decay largely due to dissipation in the star. We also find that even when the stellar spin-orbit misalignment is observed to be small at present, some systems could have had a highly misaligned orbit in the past, if their evolution is dominated by tidal dissipation in the star. Finally, we also re-examine the recent claim by Levrard et al. that all orbital and spin parameters, including eccentricity and stellar obliquity, evolve on a similar timescale to orbital decay. This counterintuitive result turns out to have been caused by a typo in their numerical code. Solving the correct set of tidal

Testing the Mirror World Hypothesis for the Close-In Extrasolar Planets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Foot, R.

2004-01-01

Because planets are not expected to be able to form close to stars due to the high temperatures, it has been suggested that the observed close orbiting (∼ 0.05 AU) large mass planets (∼ M J ) might be mirror worlds - planets composed predominately of mirror matter. The accretion of ordinary matter onto the mirror planet (from e.g. the solar wind from the host star) will make the mirror planet opaque to ordinary radiation with an effective radius R p . It was argued in a previous paper, that this radius was potentially large enough to explain the measured size of the first transiting close-in extrasolar planet, HD209458b. Furthermore, made the rough prediction: R p ∝ √ (T s /M p ), where T s is the surface temperature of the ordinary matter in the mirror planet and M p is the mass of the planet (the latter dependence on M p being the more robust prediction). We compare this prediction with the recently discovered transiting planets, OGLE-TR-56b and OGLE-TR- 113b. (author)

Planets in Binary Star Systems

CERN Document Server

Haghighipour, Nader

2010-01-01

The discovery of extrasolar planets over the past decade has had major impacts on our understanding of the formation and dynamical evolution of planetary systems. There are features and characteristics unseen in our solar system and unexplainable by the current theories of planet formation and dynamics. Among these new surprises is the discovery of planets in binary and multiple-star systems. The discovery of such "binary-planetary" systems has confronted astrodynamicists with many new challenges, and has led them to re-examine the theories of planet formation and dynamics. Among these challenges are: How are planets formed in binary star systems? What would be the notion of habitability in such systems? Under what conditions can binary star systems have habitable planets? How will volatiles necessary for life appear on such planets? This volume seeks to gather the current research in the area of planets in binary and multistar systems and to familiarize readers with its associated theoretical and observation...

Multiplicity and properties of Kepler planet candidates: High spatial imaging and RV studies*

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aceituno J.

2013-04-01

Full Text Available The Kepler space telescope is discovering thousands of new planet candidates. However, a follow up program is needed in order to reject false candidates and to fully characterize the bona-fide exoplanets. Our main aims are: 1./ Detect and analyze close companions inside the typical Kepler PSF to study if they are the responsible of the dim in the Kepler light curves, 2./ Study the change in the stellar and planetary parameters due to the presence of an unresolved object, 3./ Help to validate those Kepler Objects of Interest that do not present any object inside the Kepler PSF and 4./ Study the multiplicity rate in planet host candidates. Such a large sample of observed planet host candidates allows us to do statistics about the presence of close (visual or bounded companions to the harboring star. We present here Lucky Imaging observations for a total amount of 98 Kepler Objects of Interest. This technique is based on the acquisition of thousands of very short exposure time images. Then, a selection and combination of a small amount of the best quality frames provides a high resolution image with objects having a 0.1 arcsec PSF. We applied this technique to carry out observations in the Sloan i and Sloan z filters of our Kepler candidates. We find blended objects inside the Kepler PSF for a significant percentage of KOIs. On one hand, only 58.2% of the hosts do not present any object within 6 arcsec. On the other hand, we have found 19 companions closer than 3 arcsec in 17 KOIs. According to their magnitudes and i − z color, 8 of them could be physically bounded to the host star. We are also collecting high-spectral resolution spectroscopuy in order to derive the planet properties.

System Geometries and Transit/Eclipse Probabilities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Howard A.

2011-02-01

Full Text Available Transiting exoplanets provide access to data to study the mass-radius relation and internal structure of extrasolar planets. Long-period transiting planets allow insight into planetary environments similar to the Solar System where, in contrast to hot Jupiters, planets are not constantly exposed to the intense radiation of their parent stars. Observations of secondary eclipses additionally permit studies of exoplanet temperatures and large-scale exo-atmospheric properties. We show how transit and eclipse probabilities are related to planet-star system geometries, particularly for long-period, eccentric orbits. The resulting target selection and observational strategies represent the principal ingredients of our photometric survey of known radial-velocity planets with the aim of detecting transit signatures (TERMS.

Architecture of Kepler's Multi-transiting Systems: II. New investigations with twice as many candidates

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fabrycky, Daniel C.; Lissauer, Jack J.; Ragozzine, Darin; Rowe, Jason F.; Steffen, Jason H.; Agol, Eric; Barclay, Thomas; Batalha, Natalie; Borucki, William; Ciardi, David R.; Ford, Eric B.; Gautier, Thomas N.; Geary, John C.; Holman, Matthew J.; Jenkins, Jon M.; Li, Jie; Morehead, Robert C.; Morris, Robert L.; Shporer, Avi; Smith, Jeffrey C.; Still, Martin; Van Cleve, Jeffrey

2014-07-16

Having discovered 885 planet candidates in 361 multiple-planet systems, Kepler has made transits a powerful method for studying the statistics of planetary systems. The orbits of only two pairs of planets in these candidate systems are apparently unstable. This indicates that a high percentage of the candidate systems are truly planets orbiting the same star, motivating physical investigations of the population. Pairs of planets in this sample are typically not in orbital resonances. However, pairs with orbital period ratios within a few percent of a first-order resonance (e.g. 2:1, 3:2) prefer orbital spacings just wide of the resonance and avoid spacings just narrow of the resonance. Finally, we investigate mutual inclinations based on transit duration ratios. We infer that the inner planets of pairs tend to have a smaller impact parameter than their outer companions, suggesting these planetary systems are typically coplanar to within a few degrees.

The changing phases of extrasolar planet CoRoT-1b.

Science.gov (United States)

Snellen, Ignas A G; de Mooij, Ernst J W; Albrecht, Simon

2009-05-28

Hot Jupiters are a class of extrasolar planet that orbit their parent stars at very short distances. They are expected to be tidally locked, which can lead to a large temperature difference between their daysides and nightsides. Infrared observations of eclipsing systems have yielded dayside temperatures for a number of transiting planets. The day-night contrast of the transiting extrasolar planet HD 189733b was 'mapped' using infrared observations. It is expected that the contrast between the daysides and nightsides of hot Jupiters is much higher at visual wavelengths, shorter than that of the peak emission, and could be further enhanced by reflected stellar light. Here we report the analysis of optical photometric data obtained over 36 planetary orbits of the transiting hot Jupiter CoRoT-1b. The data are consistent with the nightside hemisphere of the planet being entirely black, with the dayside flux dominating the optical phase curve. This means that at optical wavelengths the planet's phase variation is just as we see it for the interior planets in the Solar System. The data allow for only a small fraction of reflected light, corresponding to a geometric albedo of <0.20.

SPITZER IRAC SECONDARY ECLIPSE PHOTOMETRY OF THE TRANSITING EXTRASOLAR PLANET HAT-P-1b

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Todorov, Kamen; Deming, Drake; Harrington, Jospeph; Stevenson, Kevin B.; Bowman, William C.; Nymeyer, Sarah; Fortney, Jonathan J.; Bakos, Gaspar A.

2010-01-01

We report Spitzer/IRAC photometry of the transiting giant exoplanet HAT-P-1b during its secondary eclipse. This planet lies near the postulated boundary between the pM and pL-class of hot Jupiters, and is important as a test of models for temperature inversions in hot Jupiter atmospheres. We derive eclipse depths for HAT-P-1b, in units of the stellar flux, that are: 0.080% ± 0.008% [3.6 μm], 0.135% ± 0.022% [4.5 μm], 0.203% ± 0.031% [5.8 μm], and 0.238% ± 0.040% [8.0 μm]. These values are best fit using an atmosphere with a modest temperature inversion, intermediate between the archetype inverted atmosphere (HD 209458b) and a model without an inversion. The observations also suggest that this planet is radiating a large fraction of the available stellar irradiance on its dayside, with little available for redistribution by circulation. This planet has sometimes been speculated to be inflated by tidal dissipation, based on its large radius in discovery observations, and on a non-zero orbital eccentricity allowed by the radial velocity data. The timing of the secondary eclipse is very sensitive to orbital eccentricity, and we find that the central phase of the eclipse is 0.4999 ± 0.0005. The difference between the expected and observed phase indicates that the orbit is close to circular, with a 3σ limit of |e cos ω| < 0.002.

REDUCED ACTIVITY AND LARGE PARTICLES FROM THE DISINTEGRATING PLANET CANDIDATE KIC 12557548b

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schlawin, E.; Herter, T. [Astronomy Department, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 (United States); Zhao, M. [Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 (United States); Teske, J. K. [Carnegie DTM, Washington, DC 20015 (United States); Chen, H. [Astronomy Department, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215 (United States)

2016-08-01

The intriguing exoplanet candidate KIC 12557548b is believed to have a comet-like tail of dusty debris trailing a small rocky planet. The tail of debris scatters up to 1.3% of the stellar light in the Kepler observatory’s bandpass (0.42–0.9 μ m). Observing the tail’s transit depth at multiple wavelengths can reveal the composition and particle size of the debris, constraining the makeup and lifetime of the sub-Mercury planet. Early dust particle size predictions from the scattering of the comet-like tail pointed toward a dust size of ∼0.1 μ m for silicate compositions. These small particles would produce a much deeper optical transit depth than near-infrared transit depth. We measure a transmission spectrum for KIC 12557548b using the SpeX spectrograph (covering 0.8–2.4 μ m) simultaneously with the MORIS imager taking r ′ (0.63 μ m) photometry on the Infrared Telescope Facility for eight nights and one night in H band (1.63 μ m) using the Wide-field IR Camera at the Palomar 200 inch telescope. The infrared spectra are plagued by systematic errors, but we argue that sufficient precision is obtained when using differential spectroscopic calibration when combining multiple nights. The average differential transmission spectrum is flat, supporting findings that KIC 12557548b’s debris is likely composed of larger particles ≳0.5 μ m for pyroxene and olivine and ≳0.2 μ m for iron and corundum. The r ′ photometric transit depths are all below the average Kepler value, suggesting that the observations occurred during a weak period or that the mechanisms producing optical broadband transit depths are suppressed.

A SEARCH FOR SHORT-PERIOD ROCKY PLANETS AROUND WDs WITH THE COSMIC ORIGINS SPECTROGRAPH (COS)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sandhaus, Phoebe H.; Debes, John H.; Ely, Justin; Hines, Dean C.; Bourque, Matthew [Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Dr., Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States)

2016-05-20

The search for transiting habitable exoplanets has broadened to include several types of stars that are smaller than the Sun in an attempt to increase the observed transit depth and hence the atmospheric signal of the planet. Of all spectral types, white dwarfs (WDs) are the most favorable for this type of investigation. The fraction of WDs that possess close-in rocky planets is unknown, but several large angle stellar surveys have the photometric precision and cadence to discover at least one if they are common. Ultraviolet observations of WDs may allow for detection of molecular oxygen or ozone in the atmosphere of a terrestrial planet. We use archival Hubble Space Telescope data from the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph to search for transiting rocky planets around UV-bright WDs. In the process, we discovered unusual variability in the pulsating WD GD 133, which shows slow sinusoidal variations in the UV. While we detect no planets around our small sample of targets, we do place stringent limits on the possibility of transiting planets, down to sub-lunar radii. We also point out that non-transiting small planets in thermal equilibrium are detectable around hotter WDs through infrared excesses, and identify two candidates.

An Improved Transit Measurement for a 2.4 R ⊕ Planet Orbiting A Bright Mid-M Dwarf K2–28

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Ge; Knutson, Heather A.; Dressing, Courtney D.; Morley, Caroline V.; Werner, Michael; Gorjian, Varoujan; Beichman, Charles; Benneke, Björn; Christiansen, Jessie L.; Ciardi, David; Crossfield, Ian; Howell, Steve B.; Krick, Jessica E.; Livingston, John; Morales, Farisa Y.; Schlieder, Joshua E.

2018-05-01

We present a new Spitzer transit observation of K2–28b, a sub-Neptune (R p = 2.45 ± 0.28 R ⊕) orbiting a relatively bright (V mag = 16.06, K mag = 10.75) metal-rich M4 dwarf (EPIC 206318379). This star is one of only seven with masses less than 0.2 {M}ȯ known to host transiting planets, and the planet appears to be a slightly smaller analogue of GJ 1214b (2.85+/- 0.20 {R}\\oplus ). Our new Spitzer observations were taken two years after the original K2 discovery data and have a significantly higher cadence, allowing us to derive improved estimates for this planet’s radius, semimajor axis, and orbital period, which greatly reduce the uncertainty in the prediction of near future transit times for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) observations. We also evaluate the system’s suitability for atmospheric characterization with JWST and find that it is currently the only small (K2–28b to be representative of the kind of mid-M systems that should be detectable in the TESS sample.

HD 89345: a bright oscillating star hosting a transiting warm Saturn-sized planet observed by K2

Science.gov (United States)

Van Eylen, V.; Dai, F.; Mathur, S.; Gandolfi, D.; Albrecht, S.; Fridlund, M.; García, R. A.; Guenther, E.; Hjorth, M.; Justesen, A. B.; Livingston, J.; Lund, M. N.; Pérez Hernández, F.; Prieto-Arranz, J.; Regulo, C.; Bugnet, L.; Everett, M. E.; Hirano, T.; Nespral, D.; Nowak, G.; Palle, E.; Silva Aguirre, V.; Trifonov, T.; Winn, J. N.; Barragán, O.; Beck, P. G.; Chaplin, W. J.; Cochran, W. D.; Csizmadia, S.; Deeg, H.; Endl, M.; Heeren, P.; Grziwa, S.; Hatzes, A. P.; Hidalgo, D.; Korth, J.; Mathis, S.; Montañes Rodriguez, P.; Narita, N.; Patzold, M.; Persson, C. M.; Rodler, F.; Smith, A. M. S.

2018-05-01

We report the discovery and characterization of HD 89345b (K2-234b; EPIC 248777106b), a Saturn-sized planet orbiting a slightly evolved star. HD 89345 is a bright star (V = 9.3 mag) observed by the K2 mission with one-minute time sampling. It exhibits solar-like oscillations. We conducted asteroseismology to determine the parameters of the star, finding the mass and radius to be 1.12^{+0.04}_{-0.01} M_⊙ and 1.657^{+0.020}_{-0.004} R_⊙, respectively. The star appears to have recently left the main sequence, based on the inferred age, 9.4^{+0.4}_{-1.3} Gyr, and the non-detection of mixed modes. The star hosts a "warm Saturn" (P = 11.8 days, Rp = 6.86 ± 0.14 R⊕). Radial-velocity follow-up observations performed with the FIES, HARPS, and HARPS-N spectrographs show that the planet has a mass of 35.7 ± 3.3 M⊕. The data also show that the planet's orbit is eccentric (e ≈ 0.2). An investigation of the rotational splitting of the oscillation frequencies of the star yields no conclusive evidence on the stellar inclination angle. We further obtained Rossiter-McLaughlin observations, which result in a broad posterior of the stellar obliquity. The planet seems to conform to the same patterns that have been observed for other sub-Saturns regarding planet mass and multiplicity, orbital eccentricity, and stellar metallicity.

THE PAN-PACIFIC PLANET SEARCH. II. CONFIRMATION OF A TWO-PLANET SYSTEM AROUND HD 121056

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wittenmyer, Robert A.; Tinney, C. G. [School of Physics, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052 (Australia); Wang, Liang [Key Laboratory of Optical Astronomy, National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, A20 Datun Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100012 (China); Liu, Fan [Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Australian National University, Cotter Road, Weston Creek, ACT 2611 (Australia); Horner, Jonathan [Australian Centre for Astrobiology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052 (Australia); Endl, Michael [McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C1400, Austin, TX 78712 (United States); Johnson, John Asher [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Carter, B. D., E-mail: rob@unsw.edu.au [Computational Engineering and Science Research Centre, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Queensland 4350 (Australia)

2015-02-10

Precise radial velocities from the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) confirm the presence of a rare short-period planet around the K0 giant HD 121056. An independent two-planet solution using the AAT data shows that the inner planet has P = 89.1 ± 0.1 days, and m sin i = 1.35 ± 0.17 M{sub Jup}. These data also confirm the planetary nature of the outer companion, with m sin i = 3.9 ± 0.6 M{sub Jup} and a = 2.96 ± 0.16 AU. HD 121056 is the most-evolved star to host a confirmed multiple-planet system, and is a valuable example of a giant star hosting both a short-period and a long-period planet.

THE PAN-PACIFIC PLANET SEARCH. II. CONFIRMATION OF A TWO-PLANET SYSTEM AROUND HD 121056

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wittenmyer, Robert A.; Tinney, C. G.; Wang, Liang; Liu, Fan; Horner, Jonathan; Endl, Michael; Johnson, John Asher; Carter, B. D.

2015-01-01

Precise radial velocities from the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) confirm the presence of a rare short-period planet around the K0 giant HD 121056. An independent two-planet solution using the AAT data shows that the inner planet has P = 89.1 ± 0.1 days, and m sin i = 1.35 ± 0.17 M Jup . These data also confirm the planetary nature of the outer companion, with m sin i = 3.9 ± 0.6 M Jup and a = 2.96 ± 0.16 AU. HD 121056 is the most-evolved star to host a confirmed multiple-planet system, and is a valuable example of a giant star hosting both a short-period and a long-period planet

International Deep Planet Survey, 317 stars to determine the wide-separated planet frequency

Science.gov (United States)

Galicher, R.; Marois, C.; Macintosh, B.; Zuckerman, B.; Song, I.; Barman, T.; Patience, J.

2013-09-01

Since 2000, more than 300 nearby young stars were observed for the International Deep Planet Survey with adaptive optics systems at Gemini (NIRI/NICI), Keck (Nirc2), and VLT (Naco). Massive young AF stars were included in our sample whereas they have generally been neglected in first generation surveys because the contrast and target distances are less favorable to image substellar companions. The most significant discovery of the campaign is the now well-known HR 8799 multi-planet system. This remarkable finding allows, for the first time, an estimate of the Jovians planet population at large separations (further than a few AUs) instead of deriving upper limits. During my presentation, I will present the survey showing images of multiple stars and planets. I will then propose a statistic study of the observed stars deriving constraints on the Jupiter-like planet frequency at large separations.

More Planets in the Hyades Cluster

Science.gov (United States)

Kohler, Susanna

2017-12-01

A few weeks ago, Astrobites reported on a Neptune-sized planet discovered orbiting a star in the Hyades cluster. A separate study submitted at the same time, however, reveals that there may be even more planets lurking in this system.Thanks, KeplerArtists impression of the Kepler spacecraft and the mapping of the fields of the current K2 mission. [NASA]As we learn about the formation and evolution of planets outside of our own solar system, its important that we search for planets throughout different types of star clusters; observing both old and young clusters, for instance, can tell us about planets in different stages of their evolutionary histories. Luckily for us, we have a tool that has been doing exactly this: the Kepler mission.In true holiday spirit, Kepler is the gift that just keeps on giving. Though two of its reaction wheels have failed, Kepler now as its reincarnation, K2 just keeps detecting more planet transits. Whats more, detailed analysis of past Kepler/K2 data with ever more powerful techniques as well as the addition of high-precision parallaxes for stars from Gaia in the near future ensures that the Kepler data set will continue to reveal new exoplanet transits for many years to come.Image of the Hyades cluster, a star cluster that is only 800 million years old. [NASA/ESA/STScI]Hunting in the Young HyadesTwo studies using K2 data were recently submitted on exoplanet discoveries around EPIC 247589423 in the Hyades cluster, a nearby star cluster that is only 800 million years old. Astrobites reported on the first study in October and discussed details about the newly discovered mini-Neptune presented in that study.The second study, led by Andrew Mann (University of Texas at Austin and NASA Hubble Fellow at Columbia University), was published this week. This study presented a slightly different outcome: the authors detect the presence of not just the one, but three exoplanets orbiting EPIC 247589423.New DiscoveriesMann and collaborators searched

SOAP-T: a tool to study the light curve and radial velocity of a system with a transiting planet and a rotating spotted star

Science.gov (United States)

Oshagh, M.; Boisse, I.; Boué, G.; Montalto, M.; Santos, N. C.; Bonfils, X.; Haghighipour, N.

2013-01-01

We present an improved version of SOAP named "SOAP-T", which can generate the radial velocity variations and light curves for systems consisting of a rotating spotted star with a transiting planet. This tool can be used to study the anomalies inside transit light curves and the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect, to better constrain the orbital configuration and properties of planetary systems and the active zones of their host stars. Tests of the code are presented to illustrate its performance and to validate its capability when compared with analytical models and real data. Finally, we apply SOAP-T to the active star, HAT-P-11, observed by the NASA Kepler space telescope and use this system to discuss the capability of this tool in analyzing light curves for the cases where the transiting planet overlaps with the star's spots. The tool's public interface is available at http://www.astro.up.pt/resources/soap-t/

DETECTABILITY OF EARTH-LIKE PLANETS IN CIRCUMSTELLAR HABITABLE ZONES OF BINARY STAR SYSTEMS WITH SUN-LIKE COMPONENTS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eggl, Siegfried; Pilat-Lohinger, Elke; Haghighipour, Nader

2013-01-01

Given the considerable percentage of stars that are members of binaries or stellar multiples in the solar neighborhood, it is expected that many of these binaries host planets, possibly even habitable ones. The discovery of a terrestrial planet in the α Centauri system supports this notion. Due to the potentially strong gravitational interaction that an Earth-like planet may experience in such systems, classical approaches to determining habitable zones (HZ), especially in close S-type binary systems, can be rather inaccurate. Recent progress in this field, however, allows us to identify regions around the star permitting permanent habitability. While the discovery of α Cen Bb has shown that terrestrial planets can be detected in solar-type binary stars using current observational facilities, it remains to be shown whether this is also the case for Earth analogs in HZs. We provide analytical expressions for the maximum and rms values of radial velocity and astrometric signals, as well as transit probabilities of terrestrial planets in such systems, showing that the dynamical interaction of the second star with the planet may indeed facilitate the planets' detection. As an example, we discuss the detectability of additional Earth-like planets in the averaged, extended, and permanent HZs around both stars of the α Centauri system.

DETECTABILITY OF EARTH-LIKE PLANETS IN CIRCUMSTELLAR HABITABLE ZONES OF BINARY STAR SYSTEMS WITH SUN-LIKE COMPONENTS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Eggl, Siegfried; Pilat-Lohinger, Elke [University of Vienna, Institute for Astrophysics, Tuerkenschanzstr. 17, A-1180 Vienna (Austria); Haghighipour, Nader, E-mail: siegfried.eggl@univie.ac.at [Institute for Astronomy and NASA Astrobiology Institute, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States)

2013-02-20

Given the considerable percentage of stars that are members of binaries or stellar multiples in the solar neighborhood, it is expected that many of these binaries host planets, possibly even habitable ones. The discovery of a terrestrial planet in the {alpha} Centauri system supports this notion. Due to the potentially strong gravitational interaction that an Earth-like planet may experience in such systems, classical approaches to determining habitable zones (HZ), especially in close S-type binary systems, can be rather inaccurate. Recent progress in this field, however, allows us to identify regions around the star permitting permanent habitability. While the discovery of {alpha} Cen Bb has shown that terrestrial planets can be detected in solar-type binary stars using current observational facilities, it remains to be shown whether this is also the case for Earth analogs in HZs. We provide analytical expressions for the maximum and rms values of radial velocity and astrometric signals, as well as transit probabilities of terrestrial planets in such systems, showing that the dynamical interaction of the second star with the planet may indeed facilitate the planets' detection. As an example, we discuss the detectability of additional Earth-like planets in the averaged, extended, and permanent HZs around both stars of the {alpha} Centauri system.

Simulated JWST/NIRISS Transit Spectroscopy of Anticipated TESS Planets Compared to Select Discoveries from Space-Based and Ground-Based Surveys

Science.gov (United States)

Louie, Dana; Deming, Drake; Albert, Loic; Bouma, Luke; Bean, Jacob; Lopez-Morales, Mercedes

2018-01-01

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) will embark in 2018 on a 2-year wide-field survey mission of most of the celestial sky, discovering over a thousand super-Earth and sub-Neptune-sized exoplanets potentially suitable for follow-up observations using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Bouma et al. (2017) and Sullivan et al. (2015) used Monte Carlo simulations to predict the properties of the planetary systems that TESS is likely to detect, basing their simulations upon Kepler-derived planet occurrence rates and photometric performance models for the TESS cameras. We employed a JWST Near InfraRed Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS) simulation tool to estimate the signal-to-noise (S/N) that JWST/NIRISS will attain in transmission spectroscopy of these anticipated TESS discoveries, and we then compared the S/N for anticipated TESS discoveries to our estimates of S/N for 18 known exoplanets. We analyzed the sensitivity of our results to planetary composition, cloud cover, and presence of an observational noise floor. We find that only a few anticipated TESS discoveries in the terrestrial planet regime will result in better JWST/NIRISS S/N than currently known exoplanets, such as the TRAPPIST-1 planets, GJ1132b, or LHS1140b. However, we emphasize that this outcome is based upon Kepler-derived occurrence rates, and that co-planar compact systems (e.g. TRAPPIST-1) were not included in predicting the anticipated TESS planet yield. Furthermore, our results show that several hundred anticipated TESS discoveries in the super-Earth and sub-Neptune regime will produce S/N higher than currently known exoplanets such as K2-3b or K2-3c. We apply our results to estimate the scope of a JWST follow-up observation program devoted to mapping the transition region between high molecular weight and primordial planetary atmospheres.

Observing the Atmospheres of Known Temperate Earth-sized Planets with JWST

Science.gov (United States)

Morley, Caroline V.; Kreidberg, Laura; Rustamkulov, Zafar; Robinson, Tyler; Fortney, Jonathan J.

2017-12-01

Nine transiting Earth-sized planets have recently been discovered around nearby late-M dwarfs, including the TRAPPIST-1 planets and two planets discovered by the MEarth survey, GJ 1132b and LHS 1140b. These planets are the smallest known planets that may have atmospheres amenable to detection with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). We present model thermal emission and transmission spectra for each planet, varying composition and surface pressure of the atmosphere. We base elemental compositions on those of Earth, Titan, and Venus and calculate the molecular compositions assuming chemical equilibrium, which can strongly depend on temperature. Both thermal emission and transmission spectra are sensitive to the atmospheric composition; thermal emission spectra are sensitive to surface pressure and temperature. We predict the observability of each planet’s atmosphere with JWST. GJ 1132b and TRAPPIST-1b are excellent targets for emission spectroscopy with JWST/MIRI, requiring fewer than 10 eclipse observations. Emission photometry for TRAPPIST-1c requires 5-15 eclipses; LHS 1140b and TRAPPIST-1d, TRAPPIST-1e, and TRAPPIST-1f, which could possibly have surface liquid water, may be accessible with photometry. Seven of the nine planets are strong candidates for transmission spectroscopy measurements with JWST, although the number of transits required depends strongly on the planets’ actual masses. Using the measured masses, fewer than 20 transits are required for a 5σ detection of spectral features for GJ 1132b and six of the TRAPPIST-1 planets. Dedicated campaigns to measure the atmospheres of these nine planets will allow us, for the first time, to probe formation and evolution processes of terrestrial planetary atmospheres beyond our solar system.

The HARPS-N Rocky Planet Search

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Motalebi, F.; Udry, S.; Gillon, M.

2015-01-01

We know now from radial velocity surveys and transit space missions that planets only a few times more massive than our Earth are frequent around solar-type stars. Fundamental questions about their formation history, physical properties, internal structure, and atmosphere composition are, however......, still to be solved. We present here the detection of a system of four low-mass planets around the bright (V = 5.5) and close-by (6.5 pc) star HD 219134. This is the first result of the Rocky Planet Search programme with HARPS-N on the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo in La Palma. The inner planet orbits...... on a close-in, quasi-circular orbit with a period of 6.767 ± 0.004 days. The third planet in the system has a period of 46.66 ± 0.08 days and a minimum-mass of 8.94 ± 1.13 M⊕, at 0.233 ± 0.002 AU from the star. Its eccentricity is 0.46 ± 0.11. The period of this planet is close to the rotational period...

Discovery, Characterization, and Dynamics of Transiting Exoplanets

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Van Eylen, Vincent

2015-01-01

of the planet Kepler-410A~b, a Neptune-sized planet in a 17 day orbit. Kepler-410 is composed of two stars, one of which hosts a transiting planet, and an additional non-transiting planet. The latter was discovered due to its gravitational influence on Kepler-410A~b, which causes a variation in the timing...

Infrared radiation from an extrasolar planet.

Science.gov (United States)

Deming, Drake; Seager, Sara; Richardson, L Jeremy; Harrington, Joseph

2005-04-07

A class of extrasolar giant planets--the so-called 'hot Jupiters' (ref. 1)--orbit within 0.05 au of their primary stars (1 au is the Sun-Earth distance). These planets should be hot and so emit detectable infrared radiation. The planet HD 209458b (refs 3, 4) is an ideal candidate for the detection and characterization of this infrared light because it is eclipsed by the star. This planet has an anomalously large radius (1.35 times that of Jupiter), which may be the result of ongoing tidal dissipation, but this explanation requires a non-zero orbital eccentricity (approximately 0.03; refs 6, 7), maintained by interaction with a hypothetical second planet. Here we report detection of infrared (24 microm) radiation from HD 209458b, by observing the decrement in flux during secondary eclipse, when the planet passes behind the star. The planet's 24-microm flux is 55 +/- 10 microJy (1sigma), with a brightness temperature of 1,130 +/- 150 K, confirming the predicted heating by stellar irradiation. The secondary eclipse occurs at the midpoint between transits of the planet in front of the star (to within +/- 7 min, 1sigma), which means that a dynamically significant orbital eccentricity is unlikely.

A Theory of Exoplanet Transits with Light Scattering

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Robinson, Tyler D., E-mail: tydrobin@ucsc.edu [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 (United States)

2017-02-20

Exoplanet transit spectroscopy enables the characterization of distant worlds, and will yield key results for NASA's James Webb Space Telescope . However, transit spectra models are often simplified, omitting potentially important processes like refraction and multiple scattering. While the former process has seen recent development, the effects of light multiple scattering on exoplanet transit spectra have received little attention. Here, we develop a detailed theory of exoplanet transit spectroscopy that extends to the full refracting and multiple scattering case. We explore the importance of scattering for planet-wide cloud layers, where the relevant parameters are the slant scattering optical depth, the scattering asymmetry parameter, and the angular size of the host star. The latter determines the size of the “target” for a photon that is back-mapped from an observer. We provide results that straightforwardly indicate the potential importance of multiple scattering for transit spectra. When the orbital distance is smaller than 10–20 times the stellar radius, multiple scattering effects for aerosols with asymmetry parameters larger than 0.8–0.9 can become significant. We provide examples of the impacts of cloud/haze multiple scattering on transit spectra of a hot Jupiter-like exoplanet. For cases with a forward and conservatively scattering cloud/haze, differences due to multiple scattering effects can exceed 200 ppm, but shrink to zero at wavelength ranges corresponding to strong gas absorption or when the slant optical depth of the cloud exceeds several tens. We conclude with a discussion of types of aerosols for which multiple scattering in transit spectra may be important.

Planet traps and planetary cores: origins of the planet-metallicity correlation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hasegawa, Yasuhiro [Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica (ASIAA), P.O. Box 23-141, Taipei 10641, Taiwan (China); Pudritz, Ralph E., E-mail: yasu@asiaa.sinica.edu.tw, E-mail: pudritz@physics.mcmaster.ca [Department of Physics and Astronomy, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON L8S 4M1 (Canada)

2014-10-10

Massive exoplanets are observed preferentially around high metallicity ([Fe/H]) stars while low-mass exoplanets do not show such an effect. This so-called planet-metallicity correlation generally favors the idea that most observed gas giants at r < 10 AU are formed via a core accretion process. We investigate the origin of this phenomenon using a semi-analytical model, wherein the standard core accretion takes place at planet traps in protostellar disks where rapid type I migrators are halted. We focus on the three major exoplanetary populations—hot Jupiters, exo-Jupiters located at r ≅ 1 AU, and the low-mass planets. We show using a statistical approach that the planet-metallicity correlations are well reproduced in these models. We find that there are specific transition metallicities with values [Fe/H] = –0.2 to –0.4, below which the low-mass population dominates, and above which the Jovian populations take over. The exo-Jupiters significantly exceed the hot Jupiter population at all observed metallicities. The low-mass planets formed via the core accretion are insensitive to metallicity, which may account for a large fraction of the observed super-Earths and hot-Neptunes. Finally, a controlling factor in building massive planets is the critical mass of planetary cores (M {sub c,} {sub crit}) that regulates the onset of rapid gas accretion. Assuming the current data is roughly complete at [Fe/H] > –0.6, our models predict that the most likely value of the 'mean' critical core mass of Jovian planets is (M {sub c,} {sub crit}) ≅ 5 M {sub ⊕} rather than 10 M {sub ⊕}. This implies that grain opacities in accreting envelopes should be reduced in order to lower M {sub c,} {sub crit}.

CONSTRAINTS ON PLANET OCCURRENCE AROUND NEARBY MID-TO-LATE M DWARFS FROM THE MEARTH PROJECT

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Berta, Zachory K.; Irwin, Jonathan; Charbonneau, David

2013-01-01

The MEarth Project is a ground-based photometric survey intended to find planets transiting the closest and smallest main-sequence stars. In its first four years, MEarth discovered one transiting exoplanet, the 2.7 R ⊕ planet GJ1214b. Here, we answer an outstanding question: in light of the bounty of small planets transiting small stars uncovered by the Kepler mission, should MEarth have found more than just one planet so far? We estimate MEarth's ensemble sensitivity to exoplanets by performing end-to-end simulations of 1.25 × 10 6 observations of 988 nearby mid-to-late M dwarfs, gathered by MEarth between 2008 October and 2012 June. For 2-4 R ⊕ planets, we compare this sensitivity to results from Kepler and find that MEarth should have found planets at a rate of 0.05-0.36 planets yr –1 in its first four years. As part of this analysis, we provide new analytic fits to the Kepler early M dwarf planet occurrence distribution. When extrapolating between Kepler's early M dwarfs and MEarth's mid-to-late M dwarfs, we find that assuming the planet occurrence distribution stays fixed with respect to planetary equilibrium temperature provides a good match to our detection of a planet with GJ1214b's observed properties. For larger planets, we find that the warm (600-700 K), Neptune-sized (4 R ⊕ ) exoplanets that transit early M dwarfs like Gl436 and GJ3470 occur at a rate of –1 (at 95% confidence) around MEarth's later M dwarf targets. We describe a strategy with which MEarth can increase its expected planet yield by 2.5 × without new telescopes by shifting its sensitivity toward the smaller and cooler exoplanets that Kepler has demonstrated to be abundant

SECULAR BEHAVIOR OF EXOPLANETS: SELF-CONSISTENCY AND COMPARISONS WITH THE PLANET-PLANET SCATTERING HYPOTHESIS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Timpe, Miles; Barnes, Rory [Astronomy Department, University of Washington, Box 351580, Seattle, WA 98195 (United States); Kopparapu, Ravikumar; Raymond, Sean N. [Virtual Planetary Laboratory, Seattle, WA 98195 (United States); Greenberg, Richard [Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States); Gorelick, Noel, E-mail: apskier@astro.washington.edu [Google, Inc., 1600 Amphitheater Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043 (United States)

2013-09-15

If mutual gravitational scattering among exoplanets occurs, then it may produce unique orbital properties. For example, two-planet systems that lie near the boundary between circulation and libration of their periapses could result if planet-planet scattering ejected a former third planet quickly, leaving one planet on an eccentric orbit and the other on a circular orbit. We first improve upon previous work that examined the apsidal behavior of known multiplanet systems by doubling the sample size and including observational uncertainties. This analysis recovers previous results that demonstrated that many systems lay on the apsidal boundary between libration and circulation. We then performed over 12,000 three-dimensional N-body simulations of hypothetical three-body systems that are unstable, but stabilize to two-body systems after an ejection. Using these synthetic two-planet systems, we test the planet-planet scattering hypothesis by comparing their apsidal behavior, over a range of viewing angles, to that of the observed systems and find that they are statistically consistent regardless of the multiplicity of the observed systems. Finally, we combine our results with previous studies to show that, from the sampled cases, the most likely planetary mass function prior to planet-planet scattering follows a power law with index -1.1. We find that this pre-scattering mass function predicts a mutual inclination frequency distribution that follows an exponential function with an index between -0.06 and -0.1.

DISCOVERY OF A COMPANION CANDIDATE IN THE HD 169142 TRANSITION DISK AND THE POSSIBILITY OF MULTIPLE PLANET FORMATION

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Reggiani, Maddalena; Quanz, Sascha P.; Meyer, Michael R.; Amara, Adam; Avenhaus, Henning; Meru, Farzana [Institute for Astronomy, ETH Zurich, CH-8093 Zurich (Switzerland); Pueyo, Laurent; Wolff, Schuyler [Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States); Absil, Olivier [Département d' Astrophysique, Géophysique et Océanographie, Université de Liège, 17 Allée du Six Août, B-4000 Liège (Belgium); Anglada, Guillem; Osorio, Mayra [Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, CSIC, Glorieta de la Astronomía s/n, E-18008 Granada (Spain); Girard, Julien H.; Mawet, Dimitri; Milli, Julien [European Southern Observatory, Alonso de Cordova 3107, Casilla 19001 Vitacura, Santiago 19 (Chile); Gonzalez, Carlos Carrasco [Centro de Radioastronomía y Astrofísica (UNAM), Apartado Postal 3-72 (Xangari), 58089 Morelia (Mexico); Graham, James [University of California, 644 Campbell Hall, Berkeley, CA (United States); Torrelles, Jose-Maria, E-mail: reggiani@phys.ethz.ch [Instituto de Ciencias del Espacio (CSIC)-UB/IEEC, Universitat de Barcelona, Martí i Franquès 1, E-08028 Barcelona (Spain)

2014-09-01

We present L'- and J-band high-contrast observations of HD 169142, obtained with the Very Large Telescope/NACO AGPM vector vortex coronagraph and the Gemini Planet Imager, respectively. A source located at 0.''156 ± 0.''032 north of the host star (P.A. = 7.°4 ± 11.°3) appears in the final reduced L' image. At the distance of the star (∼145 pc), this angular separation corresponds to a physical separation of 22.7 ± 4.7 AU, locating the source within the recently resolved inner cavity of the transition disk. The source has a brightness of L' = 12.2 ± 0.5 mag, whereas it is not detected in the J band (J >13.8 mag). If its L' brightness arose solely from the photosphere of a companion and given the J – L' color constraints, it would correspond to a 28-32 M {sub Jupiter} object at the age of the star, according to the COND models. Ongoing accretion activity of the star suggests, however, that gas is left in the inner disk cavity from which the companion could also be accreting. In this case, the object could be lower in mass and its luminosity enhanced by the accretion process and by a circumplanetary disk. A lower-mass object is more consistent with the observed cavity width. Finally, the observations enable us to place an upper limit on the L'-band flux of a second companion candidate orbiting in the disk annular gap at ∼50 AU, as suggested by millimeter observations. If the second companion is also confirmed, HD 169142 might be forming a planetary system, with at least two companions opening gaps and possibly interacting with each other.

DISCOVERY OF A COMPANION CANDIDATE IN THE HD 169142 TRANSITION DISK AND THE POSSIBILITY OF MULTIPLE PLANET FORMATION

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reggiani, Maddalena; Quanz, Sascha P.; Meyer, Michael R.; Amara, Adam; Avenhaus, Henning; Meru, Farzana; Pueyo, Laurent; Wolff, Schuyler; Absil, Olivier; Anglada, Guillem; Osorio, Mayra; Girard, Julien H.; Mawet, Dimitri; Milli, Julien; Gonzalez, Carlos Carrasco; Graham, James; Torrelles, Jose-Maria

2014-01-01

We present L'- and J-band high-contrast observations of HD 169142, obtained with the Very Large Telescope/NACO AGPM vector vortex coronagraph and the Gemini Planet Imager, respectively. A source located at 0.''156 ± 0.''032 north of the host star (P.A. = 7.°4 ± 11.°3) appears in the final reduced L' image. At the distance of the star (∼145 pc), this angular separation corresponds to a physical separation of 22.7 ± 4.7 AU, locating the source within the recently resolved inner cavity of the transition disk. The source has a brightness of L' = 12.2 ± 0.5 mag, whereas it is not detected in the J band (J >13.8 mag). If its L' brightness arose solely from the photosphere of a companion and given the J – L' color constraints, it would correspond to a 28-32 M Jupiter object at the age of the star, according to the COND models. Ongoing accretion activity of the star suggests, however, that gas is left in the inner disk cavity from which the companion could also be accreting. In this case, the object could be lower in mass and its luminosity enhanced by the accretion process and by a circumplanetary disk. A lower-mass object is more consistent with the observed cavity width. Finally, the observations enable us to place an upper limit on the L'-band flux of a second companion candidate orbiting in the disk annular gap at ∼50 AU, as suggested by millimeter observations. If the second companion is also confirmed, HD 169142 might be forming a planetary system, with at least two companions opening gaps and possibly interacting with each other

A SEARCH FOR ADDITIONAL PLANETS IN THE NASA EPOXI OBSERVATIONS OF THE EXOPLANET SYSTEM GJ 436

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ballard, Sarah; Christiansen, Jessie L.; Charbonneau, David; Holman, Matthew J.; Fabrycky, Daniel; Deming, Drake; Barry, Richard K.; Kuchner, Marc J.; Livengood, Timothy A.; Hewagama, Tilak; A'Hearn, Michael F.; Wellnitz, Dennis D.; Sunshine, Jessica M.; Hampton, Don L.; Lisse, Carey M.; Seager, Sara; Veverka, Joseph F.

2010-01-01

We present time series photometry of the M dwarf transiting exoplanet system GJ 436 obtained with the Extrasolar Planet Observation and Characterization (EPOCh) component of the NASA EPOXI mission. We conduct a search of the high-precision time series for additional planets around GJ 436, which could be revealed either directly through their photometric transits or indirectly through the variations these second planets induce on the transits of the previously known planet. In the case of GJ 436, the presence of a second planet is perhaps indicated by the residual orbital eccentricity of the known hot Neptune companion. We find no candidate transits with significance higher than our detection limit. From Monte Carlo tests of the time series, we rule out transiting planets larger than 1.5 R + interior to GJ 436b with 95% confidence and larger than 1.25 R + with 80% confidence. Assuming coplanarity of additional planets with the orbit of GJ 436b, we cannot expect that putative planets with orbital periods longer than about 3.4 days will transit. However, if such a planet were to transit, we would rule out planets larger than 2.0 R + with orbital periods less than 8.5 days with 95% confidence. We also place dynamical constraints on additional bodies in the GJ 436 system, independent of radial velocity measurements. Our analysis should serve as a useful guide for similar analyses of transiting exoplanets for which radial velocity measurements are not available, such as those discovered by the Kepler mission. From the lack of observed secular perturbations, we set upper limits on the mass of a second planet as small as 10 M + in coplanar orbits and 1 M + in non-coplanar orbits close to GJ 436b. We present refined estimates of the system parameters for GJ 436. We find P = 2.64389579 ± 0.00000080 d, R * = 0.437 ± 0.016 R sun , and R p = 3.880 ± 0.147 R + . We also report a sinusoidal modulation in the GJ 436 light curve that we attribute to star spots. This signal is

Secondary components, integral multiplicity factor and coupling coefficients of cosmic rays in the Earth atmosphere and other planets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dorman, L.I.; Yanke, V.G.

1979-01-01

Integral multiples of cosmic rays in Earth and other planets atmospheres have been determined. Kinetic equations describing the evolution of hadronic cascade in atmosphere using modern accelerating data have been solved with that end in view. Bond coefficients for nucleonic, muonic and electronic components of secondary cosmic radiation have been built using integral multiples. Normalized bond coefficients for three components obtained for maximum solar activity are presented. Integral muon and nucleon generation and bond coefficients have also been given for Mars

Characterizing Cool Giant Planets in Reflected Light

Science.gov (United States)

Marley, Mark

2016-01-01

While the James Webb Space Telescope will detect and characterize extrasolar planets by transit and direct imaging, a new generation of telescopes will be required to detect and characterize extrasolar planets by reflected light imaging. NASA's WFIRST space telescope, now in development, will image dozens of cool giant planets at optical wavelengths and will obtain spectra for several of the best and brightest targets. This mission will pave the way for the detection and characterization of terrestrial planets by the planned LUVOIR or HabEx space telescopes. In my presentation I will discuss the challenges that arise in the interpretation of direct imaging data and present the results of our group's effort to develop methods for maximizing the science yield from these planned missions.

Measuring Precise Radii of Giants Orbiting Giants to Distinguish Between Planet Evolution Models

Science.gov (United States)

Grunblatt, Samuel; Huber, Daniel; Lopez, Eric; Gaidos, Eric; Livingston, John

2017-10-01

Despite more than twenty years since the initial discovery of highly irradiated gas giant planets, the mechanism for planet inflation remains unknown. However, proposed planet inflation mechanisms can now be separated into two general classes: those which allow for post-main sequence planet inflation by direct irradiation from the host star, and those which only allow for slowed cooling of the planet over its lifetime. The recent discovery of two inflated warm Jupiters orbiting red giant stars with the NASA K2 Mission allows distinction between these two classes, but uncertainty in the planet radius blurs this distinction. Observing transits of these planets with the Spitzer Space Telescope would reduce stellar variability and thus planet radius uncertainties by approximately 50% relative to K2, allowing distinction between the two planet inflation model classes at a 3-sigma level. We propose to observe one transit of both known warm Jupiters orbiting red giant stars, K2-97b and EPIC228754001.01, to distinguish between planet model inflation classes and measure the planetary heating efficiency to 3-sigma precision. These systems are benchmarks for the upcoming NASA TESS Mission, which is predicted to discover an order of magnitude more red giant planet systems after launching next year.

KEPLER-68: THREE PLANETS, ONE WITH A DENSITY BETWEEN THAT OF EARTH AND ICE GIANTS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gilliland, Ronald L. [Department of Astronomy, and Center for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds, The Pennsylvania State University, 525 Davey Lab, University Park, PA 16802 (United States); Marcy, Geoffrey W.; Isaacson, Howard [Department of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Rowe, Jason F.; Henze, Christopher E.; Lissauer, Jack J. [NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States); Rogers, Leslie [California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Torres, Guillermo; Fressin, Francois; Desert, Jean-Michel [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Lopez, Eric D. [University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 (United States); Buchhave, Lars A. [Niels Bohr Institute, Copenhagen University (Denmark); Christensen-Dalsgaard, Jorgen; Handberg, Rasmus [Stellar Astrophysics Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy, DK-8000 Aarhus C (Denmark); Jenkins, Jon M. [SETI Institute/NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States); Chaplin, William J.; Elsworth, Yvonne [School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT (United Kingdom); Basu, Sarbani [Department of Astronomy, Yale University, 260 Whitney Ave., New Haven, CT 06511 (United States); Metcalfe, Travis S. [White Dwarf Research Corporation, Boulder, CO 80301 (United States); Hekker, Saskia, E-mail: gillil@stsci.edu [Astronomical Institute Anton Pannekoek, University of Amsterdam, 1098 XH Amsterdam, Science Park 904 (Netherlands); and others

2013-03-20

NASA's Kepler Mission has revealed two transiting planets orbiting Kepler-68. Follow-up Doppler measurements have established the mass of the innermost planet and revealed a third Jovian-mass planet orbiting beyond the two transiting planets. Kepler-68b, in a 5.4 day orbit, has M{sub P}=8.3{sup +2.2}{sub -2.4} M{sub Circled-Plus }, R{sub P}=2.31{sup +0.06}{sub -0.09} R{sub Circled-Plus }, and {rho}{sub P}=3.32{sup +0.86}{sub -0.98} g cm{sup -3}, giving Kepler-68b a density intermediate between that of the ice giants and Earth. Kepler-68c is Earth-sized, with a radius R{sub P}=0.953{sup +0.037}{sub -0.042} R{sub Circled-Plus} and transits on a 9.6 day orbit; validation of Kepler-68c posed unique challenges. Kepler-68d has an orbital period of 580 {+-} 15 days and a minimum mass of M{sub P}sin i = 0.947 {+-} 0.035M{sub J} . Power spectra of the Kepler photometry at one minute cadence exhibit a rich and strong set of asteroseismic pulsation modes enabling detailed analysis of the stellar interior. Spectroscopy of the star coupled with asteroseismic modeling of the multiple pulsation modes yield precise measurements of stellar properties, notably T{sub eff} = 5793 {+-} 74 K, M{sub *} = 1.079 {+-} 0.051 M{sub Sun }, R{sub *} = 1.243 {+-} 0.019 R{sub Sun }, and {rho}{sub *} = 0.7903 {+-} 0.0054 g cm{sup -3}, all measured with fractional uncertainties of only a few percent. Models of Kepler-68b suggest that it is likely composed of rock and water, or has a H and He envelope to yield its density {approx}3 g cm{sup -3}.

Kepler Confirmation of Multi-Planet Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Cochran, W. D.

2011-10-01

The NASA Kepler spacecraft has detected 170 candidate multi-planet systems in the first two quarters of data released in February 2011 by Borucki et al. (2011). These systems comprise 115 double candidate systems, 45 triple candidate sys- tems, and 10 systems with 4 or more candidate planets. The architecture and dynamics of these systems were discussed by Lissauer et al. (2011), and a comparison of candidates in single- and multi-planet systems was presented by Latham et al. (2011). Proceeding from "planetary candidate" systems to confirmed and validated multi-planet systems is a difficult process, as most of these systems orbit stars too faint to obtain extremely precise (1ms-1) radial velocity confimation. Here, we discuss in detail the use of transit timing vari- ations (cf. e.g. Holman et al., 2010) to confirm planets near a mean motion resonance. We also discuss extensions to the BLENDER validation (Torres et al., 2004, 2011; Fressin et al., 2011) to validate planets in multi-planet systems. Kepler was competitively selected as the tenth Discovery mission. Funding for the Kepler Mis- sion is provided by NASA's Science Mission Direc- torate. We are deeply grateful for the very hard work of the entire Kepler team.

The Kepler Mission: A Search for Terrestrial Planets - Development Status

Science.gov (United States)

Koch, David; Borucki, W.; Mayer, D.; Caldwell, D.; Jenkens, J.; Dunham, E.; Geary, J.; Bachtell, E.; Deininger, W.; Philbrick, R.

2003-01-01

We have embarked on a mission to detect terrestrial planets. The space mission has been optimized to search for earth-size planets (0.5 to 10 earth masses) in the habitable zone (HZ) of solar-like stars. Given this design, the mission will necessarily be capable of not only detecting Earth analogs, but a wide range of planetary types and characteristics ranging from Mercury-size objects with orbital periods of days to gas-giants in decade long orbits that have undeniable signatures even with only one transit detected. The mission is designed to survey the full range of spectral-type dwarf stars. The approach is to detect the periodic signal of transiting planets. Three or more transits of a star exceeding a combined threshold of eight sigma with a statistically consistent period, brightness change and duration provide a rigorous method of detection. From the relative brightness change the planet size can be calculated. From the period the orbital size can be calculated and its location relative to the HZ determined. Presented here are: the mission goals, the top level system design requirements derived from these goals that drive the flight system design, a number of the trades that have lead to the mission concept, expected photometric performance dependence on stellar brightness and spectral type based on the system 'noise tree' analysis. Updated estimates are presented of the numbers of detectable planets versus size, orbit, stellar spectral type and distances based on a planet frequency hypothesis. The current project schedule and organization are given.

A likely planet-induced gap in the disc around T Cha

Science.gov (United States)

Hendler, Nathanial P.; Pinilla, Paola; Pascucci, Ilaria; Pohl, Adriana; Mulders, Gijs; Henning, Thomas; Dong, Ruobing; Clarke, Cathie; Owen, James; Hollenbach, David

2018-03-01

We present high-resolution (0.11 × 0.06 arcsec2) 3 mm ALMA observations of the highly inclined transition disc around the star T Cha. Our continuum image reveals multiple dust structures: an inner disc, a spatially resolved dust gap, and an outer ring. When fitting sky-brightness models to the real component of the 3 mm visibilities, we infer that the inner emission is compact (≤1 au in radius), the gap width is between 18 and 28 au, and the emission from the outer ring peaks at ˜36 au. We compare our ALMA image with previously published 1.6 μm VLT/SPHERE imagery. This comparison reveals that the location of the outer ring is wavelength dependent. More specifically, the peak emission of the 3 mm ring is at a larger radial distance than that of the 1.6 μm ring, suggesting that millimeter-sized grains in the outer disc are located farther away from the central star than micron-sized grains. We discuss different scenarios to explain our findings, including dead zones, star-driven photoevaporation, and planet-disc interactions. We find that the most likely origin of the dust gap is from an embedded planet, and estimate - for a single planet scenario - that T Cha's gap is carved by a 1.2MJup planet.

TRANSIT TIMING VARIATION MEASUREMENTS OF WASP-12b AND QATAR-1b: NO EVIDENCE OF ADDITIONAL PLANETS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Collins, Karen A.; Stassun, Keivan G. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235 (United States); Kielkopf, John F. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292 (United States)

2017-02-01

WASP-12b and Qatar-1b are transiting hot Jupiters for which previous works have suggested the presence of transit timing variations (TTVs) indicative of additional bodies in these systems—an Earth-mass planet in WASP-12 and a brown-dwarf mass object in Qatar-1. Here, we present 23 new WASP-12b and 18 new Qatar-1b complete (or nearly complete) transit observations. We perform global system fits to all of our light curves for each system, as well as RV and stellar spectroscopic parameters from the literature. The global fits provide refined system parameters and uncertainties for each system, including precise transit center times for each transit. The transit model residuals of the combined and five minute binned light curves have an rms of 183 and 255 parts per million (ppm) for WASP-12b and Qatar-1b, respectively. Most of the WASP-12b system parameter values from this work are consistent with values from previous studies, but have ∼40%–50% smaller uncertainties. Most of the Qatar-1b system parameter values and uncertainties from this work are consistent with values recently reported in the literature. We find no convincing evidence for sinusoidal TTVs with a semi-amplitude of more than ∼35 and ∼25 s in the WASP-12b and Qatar-1b systems, respectively.

LARGER PLANET RADII INFERRED FROM STELLAR ''FLICKER'' BRIGHTNESS VARIATIONS OF BRIGHT PLANET-HOST STARS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bastien, Fabienne A.; Stassun, Keivan G.; Pepper, Joshua

2014-01-01

Most extrasolar planets have been detected by their influence on their parent star, typically either gravitationally (the Doppler method) or by the small dip in brightness as the planet blocks a portion of the star (the transit method). Therefore, the accuracy with which we know the masses and radii of extrasolar planets depends directly on how well we know those of the stars, the latter usually determined from the measured stellar surface gravity, log g. Recent work has demonstrated that the short-timescale brightness variations ( f licker ) of stars can be used to measure log g to a high accuracy of ∼0.1-0.2 dex. Here, we use flicker measurements of 289 bright (Kepmag < 13) candidate planet-hosting stars with T eff = 4500-6650 K to re-assess the stellar parameters and determine the resulting impact on derived planet properties. This re-assessment reveals that for the brightest planet-host stars, Malmquist bias contaminates the stellar sample with evolved stars: nearly 50% of the bright planet-host stars are subgiants. As a result, the stellar radii, and hence the radii of the planets orbiting these stars, are on average 20%-30% larger than previous measurements had suggested

COMPARATIVE HABITABILITY OF TRANSITING EXOPLANETS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Barnes, Rory; Meadows, Victoria S.; Evans, Nicole, E-mail: rory@astro.washington.edu [Astronomy Department, University of Washington, Box 951580, Seattle, WA 98195 (United States)

2015-12-01

Exoplanet habitability is traditionally assessed by comparing a planet’s semimajor axis to the location of its host star’s “habitable zone,” the shell around a star for which Earth-like planets can possess liquid surface water. The Kepler space telescope has discovered numerous planet candidates near the habitable zone, and many more are expected from missions such as K2, TESS, and PLATO. These candidates often require significant follow-up observations for validation, so prioritizing planets for habitability from transit data has become an important aspect of the search for life in the universe. We propose a method to compare transiting planets for their potential to support life based on transit data, stellar properties and previously reported limits on planetary emitted flux. For a planet in radiative equilibrium, the emitted flux increases with eccentricity, but decreases with albedo. As these parameters are often unconstrained, there is an “eccentricity-albedo degeneracy” for the habitability of transiting exoplanets. Our method mitigates this degeneracy, includes a penalty for large-radius planets, uses terrestrial mass–radius relationships, and, when available, constraints on eccentricity to compute a number we call the “habitability index for transiting exoplanets” that represents the relative probability that an exoplanet could support liquid surface water. We calculate it for Kepler objects of interest and find that planets that receive between 60% and 90% of the Earth’s incident radiation, assuming circular orbits, are most likely to be habitable. Finally, we make predictions for the upcoming TESS and James Webb Space Telescope missions.

COMPARATIVE HABITABILITY OF TRANSITING EXOPLANETS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barnes, Rory; Meadows, Victoria S.; Evans, Nicole

2015-01-01

Exoplanet habitability is traditionally assessed by comparing a planet’s semimajor axis to the location of its host star’s “habitable zone,” the shell around a star for which Earth-like planets can possess liquid surface water. The Kepler space telescope has discovered numerous planet candidates near the habitable zone, and many more are expected from missions such as K2, TESS, and PLATO. These candidates often require significant follow-up observations for validation, so prioritizing planets for habitability from transit data has become an important aspect of the search for life in the universe. We propose a method to compare transiting planets for their potential to support life based on transit data, stellar properties and previously reported limits on planetary emitted flux. For a planet in radiative equilibrium, the emitted flux increases with eccentricity, but decreases with albedo. As these parameters are often unconstrained, there is an “eccentricity-albedo degeneracy” for the habitability of transiting exoplanets. Our method mitigates this degeneracy, includes a penalty for large-radius planets, uses terrestrial mass–radius relationships, and, when available, constraints on eccentricity to compute a number we call the “habitability index for transiting exoplanets” that represents the relative probability that an exoplanet could support liquid surface water. We calculate it for Kepler objects of interest and find that planets that receive between 60% and 90% of the Earth’s incident radiation, assuming circular orbits, are most likely to be habitable. Finally, we make predictions for the upcoming TESS and James Webb Space Telescope missions

A Direct Path to Finding Earth-Like Planets

Science.gov (United States)

Heap, Sara R.; Linder, Don J.

2009-01-01

As envisaged by the 2000 astrophysics decadal survey panel: The main goal of Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) is nothing less than to search for evidence of life on terrestrial planets around nearby stars . Here, we consider how an optical telescope paired with a free-flying occulter blocking light from the star can reach this goal directly, without knowledge of results from prior astrometric, doppler, or transit exoplanet observations. Using design reference missions and other simulations, we explore the potential of TPF-O to find planets in the habitable zone around their central stars, to spectrally characterize the atmospheres of detected planets, and to obtain rudimentary information about their orbits. We emphasize the importance of ozone absorption in the UV spectrum of a planet as a marker of photosynthesis by plants, algae, and cyanobacteria.

Evidence of an Upper Bound on the Masses of Planets and Its Implications for Giant Planet Formation

Science.gov (United States)

Schlaufman, Kevin C.

2018-01-01

Celestial bodies with a mass of M≈ 10 {M}{Jup} have been found orbiting nearby stars. It is unknown whether these objects formed like gas-giant planets through core accretion or like stars through gravitational instability. I show that objects with M≲ 4 {M}{Jup} orbit metal-rich solar-type dwarf stars, a property associated with core accretion. Objects with M≳ 10 {M}{Jup} do not share this property. This transition is coincident with a minimum in the occurrence rate of such objects, suggesting that the maximum mass of a celestial body formed through core accretion like a planet is less than 10 {M}{Jup}. Consequently, objects with M≳ 10 {M}{Jup} orbiting solar-type dwarf stars likely formed through gravitational instability and should not be thought of as planets. Theoretical models of giant planet formation in scaled minimum-mass solar nebula Shakura–Sunyaev disks with standard parameters tuned to produce giant planets predict a maximum mass nearly an order of magnitude larger. To prevent newly formed giant planets from growing larger than 10 {M}{Jup}, protoplanetary disks must therefore be significantly less viscous or of lower mass than typically assumed during the runaway gas accretion stage of giant planet formation. Either effect would act to slow the Type I/II migration of planetary embryos/giant planets and promote their survival. These inferences are insensitive to the host star mass, planet formation location, or characteristic disk dissipation time.

Thermal escape from extrasolar giant planets.

Science.gov (United States)

Koskinen, Tommi T; Lavvas, Panayotis; Harris, Matthew J; Yelle, Roger V

2014-04-28

The detection of hot atomic hydrogen and heavy atoms and ions at high altitudes around close-in extrasolar giant planets (EGPs) such as HD209458b implies that these planets have hot and rapidly escaping atmospheres that extend to several planetary radii. These characteristics, however, cannot be generalized to all close-in EGPs. The thermal escape mechanism and mass loss rate from EGPs depend on a complex interplay between photochemistry and radiative transfer driven by the stellar UV radiation. In this study, we explore how these processes change under different levels of irradiation on giant planets with different characteristics. We confirm that there are two distinct regimes of thermal escape from EGPs, and that the transition between these regimes is relatively sharp. Our results have implications for thermal mass loss rates from different EGPs that we discuss in the context of currently known planets and the detectability of their upper atmospheres.

Kepler AutoRegressive Planet Search

Science.gov (United States)

Caceres, Gabriel Antonio; Feigelson, Eric

2016-01-01

The Kepler AutoRegressive Planet Search (KARPS) project uses statistical methodology associated with autoregressive (AR) processes to model Kepler lightcurves in order to improve exoplanet transit detection in systems with high stellar variability. We also introduce a planet-search algorithm to detect transits in time-series residuals after application of the AR models. One of the main obstacles in detecting faint planetary transits is the intrinsic stellar variability of the host star. The variability displayed by many stars may have autoregressive properties, wherein later flux values are correlated with previous ones in some manner. Our analysis procedure consisting of three steps: pre-processing of the data to remove discontinuities, gaps and outliers; AR-type model selection and fitting; and transit signal search of the residuals using a new Transit Comb Filter (TCF) that replaces traditional box-finding algorithms. The analysis procedures of the project are applied to a portion of the publicly available Kepler light curve data for the full 4-year mission duration. Tests of the methods have been made on a subset of Kepler Objects of Interest (KOI) systems, classified both as planetary `candidates' and `false positives' by the Kepler Team, as well as a random sample of unclassified systems. We find that the ARMA-type modeling successfully reduces the stellar variability, by a factor of 10 or more in active stars and by smaller factors in more quiescent stars. A typical quiescent Kepler star has an interquartile range (IQR) of ~10 e-/sec, which may improve slightly after modeling, while those with IQR ranging from 20 to 50 e-/sec, have improvements from 20% up to 70%. High activity stars (IQR exceeding 100) markedly improve. A periodogram based on the TCF is constructed to concentrate the signal of these periodic spikes. When a periodic transit is found, the model is displayed on a standard period-folded averaged light curve. Our findings to date on real

Microlensing by multiple planets in high-magnification events

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gaudi, BS; Sackett, PD

1998-01-01

Microlensing is increasingly gaining recognition as a powerful method for the detection and characterization of extrasolar planetary systems. Naively, one might expect that the probability of detecting the influence of more than one planet on any single microlensing light curve would be small.

Blend Analysis of HATNet Transit Candidates

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bakos G.Á.

2011-02-01

Full Text Available Candidate transiting planet systems discovered by wide-field groundbased surveys must go through an intensive follow-up procedure to distinguish the true transiting planets from the much more common false positives. Especially pernicious are configurations of three or more stars which produce radial velocity and light curves that are similar to those of single stars transited by a planet. In this contribution we describe the methods used by the HATNet team to reject these blends, giving a few illustrative examples.

First Light from Extrasolar Planets and Implications for Astrobiology

Science.gov (United States)

Richardson, L. Jeremy; Seager, Sara; Harrington, Joseph; Deming, Drake

2005-01-01

The first light from an extrasolar planet was recently detected. These results, obtained for two transiting extrasolar planets at different infrared wavelengths, open a new era in the field of extrasolar planet detection and characterization because for the first time we can now detect planets beyond the solar system directly. Using the Spitzer Space Telescope at 24 microns, we observed the modulation of combined light (star plus planet) from the HD 209458 system as the planet disappeared behind the star during secondary eclipse and later re-emerged, thereby isolating the light from the planet. We obtained a planet-to-star ratio of 0.26% at 24 microns, corresponding to a brightness temperature of 1130 + / - 150 K. We will describe this result in detail, explain what it can tell us about the atmosphere of HD 209458 b, and discuss implications for the field of astrobiology. These results represent a significant step on the path to detecting terrestrial planets around other stars and in understanding their atmospheres in terms of composition and temperature.

Giant planet population synthesis: comparing theory with observations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Benz, W; Mordasini, C; Alibert, Y; Naef, D

2008-01-01

The characteristics of the now over 250 known extra-solar giant planets begin to provide a database with which current planet formation theories can be put to the test. To do this, we synthesize the expected planet population based on the core-accretion scenario by sampling initial conditions in a Monte Carlo fashion. We then apply appropriate observational detection biases and compare the resulting population with the one actually detected. Quantitative statistical tests allow us to determine how well the models are reproducing the observed samples. The model can be applied to compute the expected planet population detectable with different techniques (radial velocity measurements, transits, gravitational lensing, etc) or orbiting stars of different masses. In the latter case, we show that forming Jupiter-mass planets orbiting M dwarfs within the lifetime of proto-planetary disks is indeed possible. However, the models predict that with decreasing stellar mass, the ratio of Jupiter- to Neptune-mass planets will sharply decrease

Giant planet population synthesis: comparing theory with observations

Science.gov (United States)

Benz, W.; Mordasini, C.; Alibert, Y.; Naef, D.

2008-08-01

The characteristics of the now over 250 known extra-solar giant planets begin to provide a database with which current planet formation theories can be put to the test. To do this, we synthesize the expected planet population based on the core-accretion scenario by sampling initial conditions in a Monte Carlo fashion. We then apply appropriate observational detection biases and compare the resulting population with the one actually detected. Quantitative statistical tests allow us to determine how well the models are reproducing the observed samples. The model can be applied to compute the expected planet population detectable with different techniques (radial velocity measurements, transits, gravitational lensing, etc) or orbiting stars of different masses. In the latter case, we show that forming Jupiter-mass planets orbiting M dwarfs within the lifetime of proto-planetary disks is indeed possible. However, the models predict that with decreasing stellar mass, the ratio of Jupiter- to Neptune-mass planets will sharply decrease.

Masses, radii, and orbits of small Kepler planets

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Marcy, Geoffrey W.; Isaacson, Howard; Howard, Andrew W.

2014-01-01

We report on the masses, sizes, and orbits of the planets orbiting 22 Kepler stars. There are 49 planet candidates around these stars, including 42 detected through transits and 7 revealed by precise Doppler measurements of the host stars. Based on an analysis of the Kepler brightness measurement...

ON THE SURVIVABILITY AND METAMORPHISM OF TIDALLY DISRUPTED GIANT PLANETS: THE ROLE OF DENSE CORES

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Liu, Shang-Fei; Lin, Douglas N. C. [Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics and Department of Astronomy, Peking University, Beijing 100871 (China); Guillochon, James; Ramirez-Ruiz, Enrico, E-mail: liushangfei@pku.edu.cn [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 (United States)

2013-01-01

A large population of planetary candidates in short-period orbits have been found recently through transit searches, mostly with the Kepler mission. Radial velocity surveys have also revealed several Jupiter-mass planets with highly eccentric orbits. Measurements of the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect indicate that the orbital angular momentum vector of some planets is inclined relative to the spin axis of their host stars. This diversity could be induced by post-formation dynamical processes such as planet-planet scattering, the Kozai effect, or secular chaos which brings planets to the vicinity of their host stars. In this work, we propose a novel mechanism to form close-in super-Earths and Neptune-like planets through the tidal disruption of gas giant planets as a consequence of these dynamical processes. We model the core-envelope structure of gas giant planets with composite polytropes which characterize the distinct chemical composition of the core and envelope. Using three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations of close encounters between Jupiter-like planets and their host stars, we find that the presence of a core with a mass more than 10 times that of the Earth can significantly increase the fraction of envelope which remains bound to it. After the encounter, planets with cores are more likely to be retained by their host stars in contrast with previous studies which suggested that coreless planets are often ejected. As a substantial fraction of their gaseous envelopes is preferentially lost while the dense incompressible cores retain most of their original mass, the resulting metallicity of the surviving planets is increased. Our results suggest that some gas giant planets can be effectively transformed into either super-Earths or Neptune-like planets after multiple close stellar passages. Finally, we analyze the orbits and structure of known planets and Kepler candidates and find that our model is capable of producing some of the shortest-period objects.

HABITABLE PLANETS ECLIPSING BROWN DWARFS: STRATEGIES FOR DETECTION AND CHARACTERIZATION

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Belu, Adrian R.; Selsis, Franck; Raymond, Sean N.; Bolmont, Emeline; Pallé, Enric; Street, Rachel; Sahu, D. K.; Anupama, G. C.; Von Braun, Kaspar; Figueira, Pedro; Ribas, Ignasi

2013-01-01

Given the very close proximity of their habitable zones, brown dwarfs (BDs) represent high-value targets in the search for nearby transiting habitable planets that may be suitable for follow-up occultation spectroscopy. In this paper, we develop search strategies to find habitable planets transiting BDs depending on their maximum habitable orbital period (P HZ o ut ). Habitable planets with P HZ o ut shorter than the useful duration of a night (e.g., 8-10 hr) can be screened with 100% completeness from a single location and in a single night (near-IR). More luminous BDs require continuous monitoring for longer duration, e.g., from space or from a longitude-distributed network (one test scheduling achieved three telescopes, 13.5 contiguous hours). Using a simulated survey of the 21 closest known BDs (within 7 pc) we find that the probability of detecting at least one transiting habitable planet is between 4.5 +5.6 -1.4 % and 56 +31 -13 %, depending on our assumptions. We calculate that BDs within 5-10 pc are characterizable for potential biosignatures with a 6.5 m space telescope using ∼1% of a five-year mission's lifetime spread over a contiguous segment only one-fifth to one-tenth of this duration.

HOW LOW CAN YOU GO? THE PHOTOECCENTRIC EFFECT FOR PLANETS OF VARIOUS SIZES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Price, Ellen M.; Rogers, Leslie A.; Johnson, John Asher; Dawson, Rebekah I.

2015-01-01

It is well-known that the light curve of a transiting planet contains information about the planet's orbital period and size relative to the host star. More recently, it has been demonstrated that a tight constraint on an individual planet's eccentricity can sometimes be derived from the light curve via the ''photoeccentric effect'', the effect of a planet's eccentricity on the shape and duration of its light curve. This has only been studied for large planets and high signal-to-noise scenarios, raising the question of how well it can be measured for smaller planets or low signal-to-noise cases. We explore the limits of the photoeccentric effect over a wide range of planet parameters. The method hinges upon measuring g directly from the light curve, where g is the ratio of the planet's speed (projected on the plane of the sky) during transit to the speed expected for a circular orbit. We find that when the signal-to-noise in the measurement of g is <10, the ability to measure eccentricity with the photoeccentric effect decreases. We develop a ''rule of thumb'' that for per-point relative photometric uncertainties σ = (10 –3 , 10 –4 , 10 –5 ), the critical values of the planet-star radius ratio are R p /R * ≈ (0.1, 0.05, 0.03) for Kepler-like 30 minute integration times. We demonstrate how to predict the best-case uncertainty in eccentricity that can be found with the photoeccentric effect for any light curve. This clears the path to study eccentricities of individual planets of various sizes in the Kepler sample and future transit surveys

HOW LOW CAN YOU GO? THE PHOTOECCENTRIC EFFECT FOR PLANETS OF VARIOUS SIZES

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Price, Ellen M. [California Institute of Technology 1200 East California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Rogers, Leslie A. [Department of Astronomy and Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences California Institute of Technology, MC249-17 1200 East California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Johnson, John Asher [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Dawson, Rebekah I. [Department of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley 501 Campbell Hall #3411, Berkeley, CA 94720-3411 (United States)

2015-01-20

It is well-known that the light curve of a transiting planet contains information about the planet's orbital period and size relative to the host star. More recently, it has been demonstrated that a tight constraint on an individual planet's eccentricity can sometimes be derived from the light curve via the ''photoeccentric effect'', the effect of a planet's eccentricity on the shape and duration of its light curve. This has only been studied for large planets and high signal-to-noise scenarios, raising the question of how well it can be measured for smaller planets or low signal-to-noise cases. We explore the limits of the photoeccentric effect over a wide range of planet parameters. The method hinges upon measuring g directly from the light curve, where g is the ratio of the planet's speed (projected on the plane of the sky) during transit to the speed expected for a circular orbit. We find that when the signal-to-noise in the measurement of g is <10, the ability to measure eccentricity with the photoeccentric effect decreases. We develop a ''rule of thumb'' that for per-point relative photometric uncertainties σ = (10{sup –3}, 10{sup –4}, 10{sup –5}), the critical values of the planet-star radius ratio are R{sub p} /R {sub *} ≈ (0.1, 0.05, 0.03) for Kepler-like 30 minute integration times. We demonstrate how to predict the best-case uncertainty in eccentricity that can be found with the photoeccentric effect for any light curve. This clears the path to study eccentricities of individual planets of various sizes in the Kepler sample and future transit surveys.

WASP-36b: A NEW TRANSITING PLANET AROUND A METAL-POOR G-DWARF, AND AN INVESTIGATION INTO ANALYSES BASED ON A SINGLE TRANSIT LIGHT CURVE

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Smith, A. M. S.; Anderson, D. R.; Hellier, C.; Maxted, P. F. L.; Smalley, B.; Southworth, J. [Astrophysics Group, Keele University, Staffordshire, ST5 5BG (United Kingdom); Collier Cameron, A. [SUPA, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews, North Haugh, Fife, KY16 9SS (United Kingdom); Gillon, M.; Jehin, E. [Institut d' Astrophysique et de Geophysique, Universite de Liege, Allee du 6 Aout, 17 Bat. B5C, Liege 1 (Belgium); Lendl, M.; Queloz, D.; Triaud, A. H. M. J.; Pepe, F.; Segransan, D.; Udry, S. [Observatoire de Geneve, Universite de Geneve, 51 Chemin des Maillettes, 1290 Sauverny (Switzerland); West, R. G. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, Leicester, LE1 7RH (United Kingdom); Barros, S. C. C.; Pollacco, D. [Astrophysics Research Centre, School of Mathematics and Physics, Queen' s University, University Road, Belfast, BT7 1NN (United Kingdom); Street, R. A., E-mail: amss@astro.keele.ac.uk [Las Cumbres Observatory, 6740 Cortona Drive Suite 102, Goleta, CA 93117 (United States)

2012-04-15

We report the discovery, from WASP and CORALIE, of a transiting exoplanet in a 1.54 day orbit. The host star, WASP-36, is a magnitude V = 12.7, metal-poor G2 dwarf (T{sub eff} = 5959 {+-} 134 K), with [Fe/H] =-0.26 {+-} 0.10. We determine the planet to have mass and radius, respectively, 2.30 {+-} 0.07 and 1.28 {+-} 0.03 times that of Jupiter. We have eight partial or complete transit light curves, from four different observatories, which allow us to investigate the potential effects on the fitted system parameters of using only a single light curve. We find that the solutions obtained by analyzing each of these light curves independently are consistent with our global fit to all the data, despite the apparent presence of correlated noise in at least two of the light curves.

Photometric Detection of Extra-Solar Planets

Science.gov (United States)

Hatzes, Artie P.; Cochran, William D.

2004-01-01

This NASA Origins Program grant supported the TEMPEST Texas McDonald Photometric Extrasolar Search for Transits) program at McDonald Observatory, which searches for transits of extrasolar planets across the disks of their parent stars. The basic approach is to use a wide-field ground-based telescope (in our case the McDonald Observatory 0.76m telescope and it s Prime Focus Corrector) to search for transits of short period (1-15 day orbits) of close-in hot-Jupiter planets in orbit around a large sample of field stars. The next task is to search these data streams for possible transit events. We collected our first set of test data for this program using the 0.76 m PFC in the summer of 1998. From those data, we developed the optimal observing procedures, including tailoring the stellar density, exposure times, and filters to best-suit the instrument and project. In the summer of 1999, we obtained the first partial season of data on a dedicated field in the constellation Cygnus. These data were used to develop and refine the reduction and analysis procedures to produce high-precision photometry and search for transits in the resulting light curves. The TeMPEST project subsequently obtained three full seasons of data on six different fields using the McDonald Observatory 0.76m PFC.

Status of the Calan-Hertfordshire Extrasolar Planet Search

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jordán Andres

2013-04-01

Full Text Available In these proceedings we give a status update of the Calan-Hertfordshire Extrasolar Planet Search, an international collaboration led from Chile that aims to discover more planets around super metal-rich and Sun-like stars, and then follow these up with precision photometry to hunt for new bright transit planets. We highlight some results from this program, including exoplanet and brown dwarf discoveries, and a possible correlation between metallicity and planetary minimum mass at the lowest planetary masses detectable. Finally we discuss the short-term and long-term future pathways this program can take.

Observability of planet-disc interactions in CO kinematics

Science.gov (United States)

Pérez, Sebastián; Casassus, S.; Benítez-Llambay, P.

2018-06-01

Empirical evidence of planets in gas-rich circumstellar discs is required to constrain giant planet formation theories. Here we study the kinematic patterns which arise from planet-disc interactions and their observability in CO rotational emission lines. We perform three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations of single giant planets, and predict the emergent intensity field with radiative transfer. Pressure gradients at planet-carved gaps, spiral wakes and vortices bear strong kinematic counterparts. The iso-velocity contours in the CO(2-1) line centroids vo reveal large-scale perturbations, corresponding to abrupt transitions from below sub-Keplerian to super-Keplerian rotation along with radial and vertical flows. The increase in line optical depth at the edge of the gap also modulates vo, but this is a mild effect compared to the dynamical imprint of the planet-disc interaction. The large-scale deviations from the Keplerian rotation thus allow the planets to be indirectly detected via the first moment maps of molecular gas tracers, at ALMA angular resolutions. The strength of these deviations depends on the mass of the perturber. This initial study paves the way to eventually determine the mass of the planet by comparison with more detailed models.

Gemini Planet Imager: Preliminary Design Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Macintosh, B

2007-05-10

For the first time in history, direct and indirect detection techniques have enabled the exploration of the environments of nearby stars on scales comparable to the size of our solar system. Precision Doppler measurements have led to the discovery of the first extrasolar planets, while high-contrast imaging has revealed new classes of objects including dusty circumstellar debris disks and brown dwarfs. The ability to recover spectrophotometry for a handful of transiting exoplanets through secondary-eclipse measurements has allowed us to begin to study exoplanets as individual entities rather than points on a mass/semi-major-axis diagram and led to new models of planetary atmospheres and interiors, even though such measurements are only available at low SNR and for a handful of planets that are automatically those most modified by their parent star. These discoveries have galvanized public interest in science and technology and have led to profound new insights into the formation and evolution of planetary systems, and they have set the stage for the next steps--direct detection and characterization of extrasolar Jovian planets with instruments such as the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI). As discussed in Volume 1, the ability to directly detect Jovian planets opens up new regions of extrasolar planet phase space that in turn will inform our understanding of the processes through which these systems form, while near-IR spectra will advance our understanding of planetary physics. Studies of circumstellar debris disks using GPI's polarimetric mode will trace the presence of otherwise-invisible low-mass planets and measure the build-up and destruction of planetesimals. To accomplish the science mission of GPI will require a dedicated instrument capable of achieving contrast of 10{sup -7} or more. This is vastly better than that delivered by existing astronomical AO systems. Currently achievable contrast, about 10{sup -5} at separations of 1 arc second or larger, is

Survival of planets around shrinking stellar binaries.

Science.gov (United States)

Muñoz, Diego J; Lai, Dong

2015-07-28

The discovery of transiting circumbinary planets by the Kepler mission suggests that planets can form efficiently around binary stars. None of the stellar binaries currently known to host planets has a period shorter than 7 d, despite the large number of eclipsing binaries found in the Kepler target list with periods shorter than a few days. These compact binaries are believed to have evolved from wider orbits into their current configurations via the so-called Lidov-Kozai migration mechanism, in which gravitational perturbations from a distant tertiary companion induce large-amplitude eccentricity oscillations in the binary, followed by orbital decay and circularization due to tidal dissipation in the stars. Here we explore the orbital evolution of planets around binaries undergoing orbital decay by this mechanism. We show that planets may survive and become misaligned from their host binary, or may develop erratic behavior in eccentricity, resulting in their consumption by the stars or ejection from the system as the binary decays. Our results suggest that circumbinary planets around compact binaries could still exist, and we offer predictions as to what their orbital configurations should be like.

Survival of extrasolar giant planet moons in planet-planet scattering

Science.gov (United States)

CIAN HONG, YU; Lunine, Jonathan; Nicholson, Phillip; Raymond, Sean

2015-12-01

Planet-planet scattering is the best candidate mechanism for explaining the eccentricity distribution of exoplanets. Here we study the survival and dynamics of exomoons under strong perturbations during giant planet scattering. During close encounters, planets and moons exchange orbital angular momentum and energy. The most common outcomes are the destruction of moons by ejection from the system, collision with the planets and the star, and scattering of moons onto perturbed but still planet-bound orbits. A small percentage of interesting moons can remain bound to ejected (free-floating) planets or be captured by a different planet. Moons' survival rate is correlated with planet observables such as mass, semi-major axis, eccentricity and inclination, as well as the close encounter distance and the number of close encounters. In addition, moons' survival rate and dynamical outcomes are predetermined by the moons' initial semi-major axes. The survival rate drops quickly as moons' distances increase, but simulations predict a good chance of survival for the Galilean moons. Moons with different dynamical outcomes occupy different regions of orbital parameter space, which may enable the study of moons' past evolution. Potential effects of planet obliquity evolution caused by close encounters on the satellites’ stability and dynamics will be reported, as well as detailed and systematic studies of individual close encounter events.

A giant planet undergoing extreme-ultraviolet irradiation by its hot massive-star host.

Science.gov (United States)

Gaudi, B Scott; Stassun, Keivan G; Collins, Karen A; Beatty, Thomas G; Zhou, George; Latham, David W; Bieryla, Allyson; Eastman, Jason D; Siverd, Robert J; Crepp, Justin R; Gonzales, Erica J; Stevens, Daniel J; Buchhave, Lars A; Pepper, Joshua; Johnson, Marshall C; Colon, Knicole D; Jensen, Eric L N; Rodriguez, Joseph E; Bozza, Valerio; Novati, Sebastiano Calchi; D'Ago, Giuseppe; Dumont, Mary T; Ellis, Tyler; Gaillard, Clement; Jang-Condell, Hannah; Kasper, David H; Fukui, Akihiko; Gregorio, Joao; Ito, Ayaka; Kielkopf, John F; Manner, Mark; Matt, Kyle; Narita, Norio; Oberst, Thomas E; Reed, Phillip A; Scarpetta, Gaetano; Stephens, Denice C; Yeigh, Rex R; Zambelli, Roberto; Fulton, B J; Howard, Andrew W; James, David J; Penny, Matthew; Bayliss, Daniel; Curtis, Ivan A; DePoy, D L; Esquerdo, Gilbert A; Gould, Andrew; Joner, Michael D; Kuhn, Rudolf B; Labadie-Bartz, Jonathan; Lund, Michael B; Marshall, Jennifer L; McLeod, Kim K; Pogge, Richard W; Relles, Howard; Stockdale, Christopher; Tan, T G; Trueblood, Mark; Trueblood, Patricia

2017-06-22

The amount of ultraviolet irradiation and ablation experienced by a planet depends strongly on the temperature of its host star. Of the thousands of extrasolar planets now known, only six have been found that transit hot, A-type stars (with temperatures of 7,300-10,000 kelvin), and no planets are known to transit the even hotter B-type stars. For example, WASP-33 is an A-type star with a temperature of about 7,430 kelvin, which hosts the hottest known transiting planet, WASP-33b (ref. 1); the planet is itself as hot as a red dwarf star of type M (ref. 2). WASP-33b displays a large heat differential between its dayside and nightside, and is highly inflated-traits that have been linked to high insolation. However, even at the temperature of its dayside, its atmosphere probably resembles the molecule-dominated atmospheres of other planets and, given the level of ultraviolet irradiation it experiences, its atmosphere is unlikely to be substantially ablated over the lifetime of its star. Here we report observations of the bright star HD 195689 (also known as KELT-9), which reveal a close-in (orbital period of about 1.48 days) transiting giant planet, KELT-9b. At approximately 10,170 kelvin, the host star is at the dividing line between stars of type A and B, and we measure the dayside temperature of KELT-9b to be about 4,600 kelvin. This is as hot as stars of stellar type K4 (ref. 5). The molecules in K stars are entirely dissociated, and so the primary sources of opacity in the dayside atmosphere of KELT-9b are probably atomic metals. Furthermore, KELT-9b receives 700 times more extreme-ultraviolet radiation (that is, with wavelengths shorter than 91.2 nanometres) than WASP-33b, leading to a predicted range of mass-loss rates that could leave the planet largely stripped of its envelope during the main-sequence lifetime of the host star.

The occurrence of planets and other substellar bodies around white dwarfs using K2

Science.gov (United States)

van Sluijs, L.; Van Eylen, V.

2018-03-01

The majority of stars both host planetary systems and evolve into a white dwarf (WD). To understand their post-main-sequence planetary system evolution, we present a search for transiting/eclipsing planets and other substellar bodies (SBs) around WDs using a sample of 1148 WDs observed by K2. Using transit injections, we estimate the completeness of our search. We place constraints on the occurrence of planets and SBs around WDs as a function of planet radius and orbital period. For short-period (P sized to 1.5 R⊕, these are the strongest constraints known to date. We further constrain the occurrence of hot Jupiters ( Earth-sized planets ( < 28 per cent), and disintegrating short-period planets ( ˜ 12 per cent). We blindly recovered all previously known eclipsing objects, providing confidence in our analysis, and make all light curves publicly available.

A survey for very short-period planets in the Kepler data

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jackson, Brian; Stark, Christopher C.; Chambers, John [Carnegie Institution for Science, 5241 Broad Branch Road NW, Washington, DC 20015 (United States); Adams, Elisabeth R. [Planetary Science Institute, 1700 East Fort Lowell, Suite 106, Tucson, AZ 85719 (United States); Deming, Drake, E-mail: bjackson@dtm.ciw.edu [Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland at College Park, College Park, MD 20742 (United States)

2013-12-20

We conducted a search for very short-period transiting objects in the publicly available Kepler data set. Our preliminary survey has revealed four planetary candidates, all with orbital periods less than 12 hr. We have analyzed the data for these candidates using photometric models that include transit light curves, ellipsoidal variations, and secondary eclipses to constrain the candidates' radii, masses, and effective temperatures. Even with masses of only a few Earth masses, the candidates' short periods mean that they may induce stellar radial velocity signals (a few m s{sup –1}) detectable by currently operating facilities. The origins of such short-period planets are unclear, but we discuss the possibility that they may be the remnants of disrupted hot Jupiters. Whatever their origins, if confirmed as planets, these candidates would be among the shortest-period planets ever discovered. Such planets would be particularly amenable to discovery by the planned TESS mission.

A survey for very short-period planets in the Kepler data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jackson, Brian; Stark, Christopher C.; Chambers, John; Adams, Elisabeth R.; Deming, Drake

2013-01-01

We conducted a search for very short-period transiting objects in the publicly available Kepler data set. Our preliminary survey has revealed four planetary candidates, all with orbital periods less than 12 hr. We have analyzed the data for these candidates using photometric models that include transit light curves, ellipsoidal variations, and secondary eclipses to constrain the candidates' radii, masses, and effective temperatures. Even with masses of only a few Earth masses, the candidates' short periods mean that they may induce stellar radial velocity signals (a few m s –1 ) detectable by currently operating facilities. The origins of such short-period planets are unclear, but we discuss the possibility that they may be the remnants of disrupted hot Jupiters. Whatever their origins, if confirmed as planets, these candidates would be among the shortest-period planets ever discovered. Such planets would be particularly amenable to discovery by the planned TESS mission.

The Direct Detection and Characterization of M-dwarf Planets Using Light Echoes

Science.gov (United States)

Sparks, William B.; White, Richard L.; Lupu, Roxana E.; Ford, Holland C.

2018-02-01

Exoplanets orbiting M-dwarf stars are a prime target in the search for life in the universe. M-dwarf stars are active, with powerful flares that could adversely impact prospects for life, though there are counter-arguments. Here, we turn flaring to advantage and describe ways in which it can be used to enhance the detectability of planets, in the absence of transits or a coronagraph, significantly expanding the accessible discovery and characterization space. Flares produce brief bursts of intense luminosity, after which the star dims. Due to the light travel time between the star and planet, the planet receives the high-intensity pulse, which it re-emits through scattering (a light echo) or intrinsic emission when the star is much fainter, thereby increasing the planet’s detectability. The planet’s light-echo emission can potentially be discriminated from that of the host star by means of a time delay, Doppler shift, spatial shift, and polarization, each of which can improve the contrast of the planet to the star. Scattered light can reveal the albedo spectrum of the planet to within a size scale factor, and is likely to be polarized. Intrinsic emission mechanisms include fluorescent pumping of multiple molecular hydrogen and neutral oxygen lines by intense Lyα and Lyβ flare emission, recombination radiation of ionized and photodissociated species, and atmospheric processes such as terrestrial upper atmosphere airglow and near-infrared hydroxyl emission. We discuss the feasibility of detecting light echoes and find that light echo detection is possible under favorable circumstances.

Ensemble Atmospheric Properties of Small Planets around M Dwarfs

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Xueying; Ballard, Sarah; Dragomir, Diana

2018-01-01

With the growing number of planets discovered by the Kepler mission and ground-base surveys, people start to try to understand the atmospheric features of those uncovered new worlds. While it has been found that hot Jupiters exhibit diverse atmosphere composition with both clear and cloudy/hazy atmosphere possible, similar studies on ensembles of smaller planets (Earth analogs) have been held up due to the faintness of most of their host stars. In this work, a sample of 20 Earth analogs of similar periods around M dwarfs with existing Kepler transit information and Spitzer observations is composed, complemented with previously studies GJ1214b and GJ1132b, as well as the recently announced 7 small planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system. We evaluate their transit depths with uncertainties on the Spitzer 4.5 micron band using the “pixel-level decorrelation” method, and together with their well analyzed Kepler data and Hubble data, we put constraints on their atmosphere haze slopes and cloud levels. Aside from improving the understanding of ensemble properties of small planets, this study will also provide clues of potential targets for detailed atmospheric studies using the upcoming James Webb Telescope.

Seven temperate terrestrial planets around the nearby ultracool dwarf star TRAPPIST-1.

Science.gov (United States)

Gillon, Michaël; Triaud, Amaury H M J; Demory, Brice-Olivier; Jehin, Emmanuël; Agol, Eric; Deck, Katherine M; Lederer, Susan M; de Wit, Julien; Burdanov, Artem; Ingalls, James G; Bolmont, Emeline; Leconte, Jeremy; Raymond, Sean N; Selsis, Franck; Turbet, Martin; Barkaoui, Khalid; Burgasser, Adam; Burleigh, Matthew R; Carey, Sean J; Chaushev, Aleksander; Copperwheat, Chris M; Delrez, Laetitia; Fernandes, Catarina S; Holdsworth, Daniel L; Kotze, Enrico J; Van Grootel, Valérie; Almleaky, Yaseen; Benkhaldoun, Zouhair; Magain, Pierre; Queloz, Didier

2017-02-22

One aim of modern astronomy is to detect temperate, Earth-like exoplanets that are well suited for atmospheric characterization. Recently, three Earth-sized planets were detected that transit (that is, pass in front of) a star with a mass just eight per cent that of the Sun, located 12 parsecs away. The transiting configuration of these planets, combined with the Jupiter-like size of their host star-named TRAPPIST-1-makes possible in-depth studies of their atmospheric properties with present-day and future astronomical facilities. Here we report the results of a photometric monitoring campaign of that star from the ground and space. Our observations reveal that at least seven planets with sizes and masses similar to those of Earth revolve around TRAPPIST-1. The six inner planets form a near-resonant chain, such that their orbital periods (1.51, 2.42, 4.04, 6.06, 9.1 and 12.35 days) are near-ratios of small integers. This architecture suggests that the planets formed farther from the star and migrated inwards. Moreover, the seven planets have equilibrium temperatures low enough to make possible the presence of liquid water on their surfaces.

THE NATURE OF TRANSITION CIRCUMSTELLAR DISKS. II. SOUTHERN MOLECULAR CLOUDS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Romero, Gisela A.; Schreiber, Matthias R.; Rebassa-Mansergas, Alberto [Departamento de Fisica y Astronomia, Universidad de Valparaiso, Valparaiso (Chile); Cieza, Lucas A. [Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States); Merin, Bruno [Herschel Science Centre, ESAC (ESA), P.O. Box 78, 28691 Villanueva de la Canada, Madrid (Spain); Smith Castelli, Analia V. [Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas, Rivadavia 1917, C1033AAJ Buenos Aires (Argentina); Allen, Lori E. [Department of Astronomy, University of Arizona, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721-0065 (United States); Morrell, Nidia [Las Campanas Observatory, Carnegie Observatories, Casilla 601, La Serena (Chile)

2012-04-10

Transition disk objects are pre-main-sequence stars with little or no near-IR excess and significant far-IR excess, implying inner opacity holes in their disks. Here we present a multifrequency study of transition disk candidates located in Lupus I, III, IV, V, VI, Corona Australis, and Scorpius. Complementing the information provided by Spitzer with adaptive optics (AO) imaging (NaCo, VLT), submillimeter photometry (APEX), and echelle spectroscopy (Magellan, Du Pont Telescopes), we estimate the multiplicity, disk mass, and accretion rate for each object in our sample in order to identify the mechanism potentially responsible for its inner hole. We find that our transition disks show a rich diversity in their spectral energy distribution morphology, have disk masses ranging from {approx}<1 to 10 M{sub JUP}, and accretion rates ranging from {approx}<10{sup -11} to 10{sup -7.7} M{sub Sun} yr{sup -1}. Of the 17 bona fide transition disks in our sample, three, nine, three, and two objects are consistent with giant planet formation, grain growth, photoevaporation, and debris disks, respectively. Two disks could be circumbinary, which offers tidal truncation as an alternative origin of the inner hole. We find the same heterogeneity of the transition disk population in Lupus III, IV, and Corona Australis as in our previous analysis of transition disks in Ophiuchus while all transition disk candidates selected in Lupus V, VI turned out to be contaminating background asymptotic giant branch stars. All transition disks classified as photoevaporating disks have small disk masses, which indicates that photoevaporation must be less efficient than predicted by most recent models. The three systems that are excellent candidates for harboring giant planets potentially represent invaluable laboratories to study planet formation with the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array.

THE NATURE OF TRANSITION CIRCUMSTELLAR DISKS. II. SOUTHERN MOLECULAR CLOUDS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Romero, Gisela A.; Schreiber, Matthias R.; Rebassa-Mansergas, Alberto; Cieza, Lucas A.; Merín, Bruno; Smith Castelli, Analía V.; Allen, Lori E.; Morrell, Nidia

2012-01-01

Transition disk objects are pre-main-sequence stars with little or no near-IR excess and significant far-IR excess, implying inner opacity holes in their disks. Here we present a multifrequency study of transition disk candidates located in Lupus I, III, IV, V, VI, Corona Australis, and Scorpius. Complementing the information provided by Spitzer with adaptive optics (AO) imaging (NaCo, VLT), submillimeter photometry (APEX), and echelle spectroscopy (Magellan, Du Pont Telescopes), we estimate the multiplicity, disk mass, and accretion rate for each object in our sample in order to identify the mechanism potentially responsible for its inner hole. We find that our transition disks show a rich diversity in their spectral energy distribution morphology, have disk masses ranging from ∼ JUP , and accretion rates ranging from ∼ –11 to 10 –7.7 M ☉ yr –1 . Of the 17 bona fide transition disks in our sample, three, nine, three, and two objects are consistent with giant planet formation, grain growth, photoevaporation, and debris disks, respectively. Two disks could be circumbinary, which offers tidal truncation as an alternative origin of the inner hole. We find the same heterogeneity of the transition disk population in Lupus III, IV, and Corona Australis as in our previous analysis of transition disks in Ophiuchus while all transition disk candidates selected in Lupus V, VI turned out to be contaminating background asymptotic giant branch stars. All transition disks classified as photoevaporating disks have small disk masses, which indicates that photoevaporation must be less efficient than predicted by most recent models. The three systems that are excellent candidates for harboring giant planets potentially represent invaluable laboratories to study planet formation with the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array.

Forecasting the detectability of known radial velocity planets with the upcoming CHEOPS mission

Science.gov (United States)

Yi, Joo Sung; Chen, Jingjing; Kipping, David

2018-04-01

The CHaracterizing ExOPlanets Satellite (CHEOPS) mission is planned for launch next year with a major objective being to search for transits of known radial velocity (RV) planets, particularly those orbiting bright stars. Since the RV method is only sensitive to planetary mass, the radii, transit depths and transit signal-to-noise values of each RV planet are, a priori, unknown. Using an empirically calibrated probabilistic mass-radius relation, forecaster, we address this by predicting a catalogue of homogeneous credible intervals for these three keys terms for 468 planets discovered via RVs. Of these, we find that the vast majority should be detectable with CHEOPS, including terrestrial bodies, if they have the correct geometric alignment. In particular, we predict that 22 mini-Neptunes and 82 Neptune-sized planets would be suitable for detection and that more than 80 per cent of these will have apparent magnitude of V work. Our work aims to assist the CHEOPS team in scheduling efforts and highlights the great value of quantifiable, statistically robust estimates for upcoming exoplanetary missions.

A New Way to Confirm Planet Candidates

Science.gov (United States)

Kohler, Susanna

2016-05-01

automated batch processing of a large number of candidates.In a recently published study the results of which were announced yesterday the teamapplied their code to the entire catalog of 7,470 Kepler objects of interest.New Planets and False PositivesThe teams code was able to successfully evaluate the total false-positive probability (FPP) for 7,056 of the objects of interest. Of these, 428 objects previously identified as candidates were found to have FPP of more than 90%, suggesting that they are most likely false positives.Periods and radii of candidate and confirmed planets in the Kepler Objects of Interest catalog. Blue circles have previously been identified as confirmed planets. Candidates (orange) are shaded by false positive probability; more transparent means more likely to be a false positive. [Morton et al. 2016]In contrast, 1,935 candidates were found to have FPP of less than 1%, and were therefore declared validated planets. Of these confirmations, 1,284 were previously unconfirmed, more than doubling Keplers previous catalog of 1,041 confirmed planets. Morton and collaborators believe that 9 of these newly confirmed planets may fall within the habitable zone of their host stars.While the announcement of 1,284 newly confirmed planets is huge, the analysis presented in this study is the real news. The code used is publicly available and can be applied to any transiting exoplanet candidate. This means that this analysis technique can be used to find batches of exoplanets in data from the extended Kepler mission (K2) or from the future TESS and PLATO transit missions.CitationTimothy D. Morton et al 2016 ApJ 822 86. doi:10.3847/0004-637X/822/2/86

HABITABLE PLANETS ECLIPSING BROWN DWARFS: STRATEGIES FOR DETECTION AND CHARACTERIZATION

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Belu, Adrian R.; Selsis, Franck; Raymond, Sean N.; Bolmont, Emeline [Universite de Bordeaux, LAB, UMR 5804, F-33270, Floirac (France); Palle, Enric [Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, E-38205 La Laguna (Spain); Street, Rachel [Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network, 6740 Cortona Drive, Suite 102, Goleta, CA 93117 (United States); Sahu, D. K.; Anupama, G. C. [Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Koramangala, Bangalore 560034 (India); Von Braun, Kaspar [NASA Exoplanet Science Institute, California Institute of Technology, MC 100-22, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Figueira, Pedro [Centro de Astrofisica, Universidade do Porto, Rua das Estrelas, 4150-762 Porto (Portugal); Ribas, Ignasi, E-mail: belu@obs.u-bordeaux1.fr [Institut de Ciencies de l' Espai (CSIC-IEEC), Campus UAB, Facultat de Ciencies, Torre C5, parell, 2a pl., E-08193 Bellaterra (Spain)

2013-05-10

Given the very close proximity of their habitable zones, brown dwarfs (BDs) represent high-value targets in the search for nearby transiting habitable planets that may be suitable for follow-up occultation spectroscopy. In this paper, we develop search strategies to find habitable planets transiting BDs depending on their maximum habitable orbital period (P{sub HZ{sub out}}). Habitable planets with P{sub HZ{sub out}} shorter than the useful duration of a night (e.g., 8-10 hr) can be screened with 100% completeness from a single location and in a single night (near-IR). More luminous BDs require continuous monitoring for longer duration, e.g., from space or from a longitude-distributed network (one test scheduling achieved three telescopes, 13.5 contiguous hours). Using a simulated survey of the 21 closest known BDs (within 7 pc) we find that the probability of detecting at least one transiting habitable planet is between 4.5{sup +5.6}{sub -1.4}% and 56{sup +31}{sub -13}%, depending on our assumptions. We calculate that BDs within 5-10 pc are characterizable for potential biosignatures with a 6.5 m space telescope using {approx}1% of a five-year mission's lifetime spread over a contiguous segment only one-fifth to one-tenth of this duration.

Exploring Disks Around Planets

Science.gov (United States)

Kohler, Susanna

2017-07-01

Giant planets are thought to form in circumstellar disks surrounding young stars, but material may also accrete into a smaller disk around the planet. Weve never detected one of these circumplanetary disks before but thanks to new simulations, we now have a better idea of what to look for.Image from previous work simulating a Jupiter-mass planet forming inside a circumstellar disk. The planet has its own circumplanetary disk of accreted material. [Frdric Masset]Elusive DisksIn the formation of giant planets, we think the final phase consists of accretion onto the planet from a disk that surrounds it. This circumplanetary disk is important to understand, since it both regulates the late gas accretion and forms the birthplace of future satellites of the planet.Weve yet to detect a circumplanetary disk thus far, because the resolution needed to spot one has been out of reach. Now, however, were entering an era where the disk and its kinematics may be observable with high-powered telescopes (like the Atacama Large Millimeter Array).To prepare for such observations, we need models that predict the basic characteristics of these disks like the mass, temperature, and kinematic properties. Now a researcher at the ETH Zrich Institute for Astronomy in Switzerland, Judit Szulgyi, has worked toward this goal.Simulating CoolingSzulgyi performs a series of 3D global radiative hydrodynamic simulations of 1, 3, 5, and 10 Jupiter-mass (MJ) giant planets and their surrounding circumplanetary disks, embedded within the larger circumstellar disk around the central star.Density (left column), temperature (center), and normalized angular momentum (right) for a 1 MJ planet over temperatures cooling from 10,000 K (top) to 1,000 K (bottom). At high temperatures, a spherical circumplanetary envelope surrounds the planet, but as the planet cools, the envelope transitions around 64,000 K to a flattened disk. [Szulgyi 2017]This work explores the effects of different planet temperatures and

AN ANCIENT EXTRASOLAR SYSTEM WITH FIVE SUB-EARTH-SIZE PLANETS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Campante, T. L.; Davies, G. R.; Chaplin, W. J.; Handberg, R. [School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT (United Kingdom); Barclay, T.; Huber, D.; Burke, C. J.; Quintana, E. V. [NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States); Swift, J. J. [Department of Astronomy and Department of Planetary Science, California Institute of Technology, MC 249-17, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Adibekyan, V. Zh. [Centro de Astrofísica, Universidade do Porto, Rua das Estrelas, 4150-762 Porto (Portugal); Cochran, W. [Department of Astronomy and McDonald Observatory, The University of Texas at Austin, TX 78712-1205 (United States); Isaacson, H. [Astronomy Department, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Silva Aguirre, V.; Christensen-Dalsgaard, J.; Metcalfe, T. S.; Bedding, T. R. [Stellar Astrophysics Centre (SAC), Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 120, DK-8000 Aarhus C (Denmark); Ragozzine, D. [Department of Physics and Space Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology, 150 West University Boulevard, Melbourne, FL 32901 (United States); Riddle, R. [Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Baranec, C. [Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawai' i at Mānoa, Hilo, HI 96720-2700 (United States); Basu, S., E-mail: campante@bison.ph.bham.ac.uk [Department of Astronomy, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520 (United States); and others

2015-02-01

The chemical composition of stars hosting small exoplanets (with radii less than four Earth radii) appears to be more diverse than that of gas-giant hosts, which tend to be metal-rich. This implies that small, including Earth-size, planets may have readily formed at earlier epochs in the universe's history when metals were more scarce. We report Kepler spacecraft observations of Kepler-444, a metal-poor Sun-like star from the old population of the Galactic thick disk and the host to a compact system of five transiting planets with sizes between those of Mercury and Venus. We validate this system as a true five-planet system orbiting the target star and provide a detailed characterization of its planetary and orbital parameters based on an analysis of the transit photometry. Kepler-444 is the densest star with detected solar-like oscillations. We use asteroseismology to directly measure a precise age of 11.2 ± 1.0 Gyr for the host star, indicating that Kepler-444 formed when the universe was less than 20% of its current age and making it the oldest known system of terrestrial-size planets. We thus show that Earth-size planets have formed throughout most of the universe's 13.8 billion year history, leaving open the possibility for the existence of ancient life in the Galaxy. The age of Kepler-444 not only suggests that thick-disk stars were among the hosts to the first Galactic planets, but may also help to pinpoint the beginning of the era of planet formation.

AN ANCIENT EXTRASOLAR SYSTEM WITH FIVE SUB-EARTH-SIZE PLANETS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Campante, T. L.; Davies, G. R.; Chaplin, W. J.; Handberg, R.; Barclay, T.; Huber, D.; Burke, C. J.; Quintana, E. V.; Swift, J. J.; Adibekyan, V. Zh.; Cochran, W.; Isaacson, H.; Silva Aguirre, V.; Christensen-Dalsgaard, J.; Metcalfe, T. S.; Bedding, T. R.; Ragozzine, D.; Riddle, R.; Baranec, C.; Basu, S.

2015-01-01

The chemical composition of stars hosting small exoplanets (with radii less than four Earth radii) appears to be more diverse than that of gas-giant hosts, which tend to be metal-rich. This implies that small, including Earth-size, planets may have readily formed at earlier epochs in the universe's history when metals were more scarce. We report Kepler spacecraft observations of Kepler-444, a metal-poor Sun-like star from the old population of the Galactic thick disk and the host to a compact system of five transiting planets with sizes between those of Mercury and Venus. We validate this system as a true five-planet system orbiting the target star and provide a detailed characterization of its planetary and orbital parameters based on an analysis of the transit photometry. Kepler-444 is the densest star with detected solar-like oscillations. We use asteroseismology to directly measure a precise age of 11.2 ± 1.0 Gyr for the host star, indicating that Kepler-444 formed when the universe was less than 20% of its current age and making it the oldest known system of terrestrial-size planets. We thus show that Earth-size planets have formed throughout most of the universe's 13.8 billion year history, leaving open the possibility for the existence of ancient life in the Galaxy. The age of Kepler-444 not only suggests that thick-disk stars were among the hosts to the first Galactic planets, but may also help to pinpoint the beginning of the era of planet formation

A SEARCH FOR MULTI-PLANET SYSTEMS USING THE HOBBY-EBERLY TELESCOPE

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wittenmyer, Robert A.; Endl, Michael; Cochran, William D.; Levison, Harold F.; Henry, Gregory W.

2009-01-01

Extrasolar multiple-planet systems provide valuable opportunities for testing theories of planet formation and evolution. The architectures of the known multiple-planet systems demonstrate a fascinating level of diversity, which motivates the search for additional examples of such systems in order to better constrain their formation and dynamical histories. Here we describe a comprehensive investigation of 22 planetary systems in an effort to answer three questions: (1) are there additional planets? (2) where could additional planets reside in stable orbits? and (3) what limits can these observations place on such objects? We find no evidence for additional bodies in any of these systems; indeed, these new data do not support three previously announced planets (HD 20367 b: Udry et al.; HD 74156 d: Bean et al.; and 47 UMa c: Fischer et al.). The dynamical simulations show that nearly all of the 22 systems have large regions in which additional planets could exist in stable orbits. The detection-limit computations indicate that this study is sensitive to close-in Neptune-mass planets for most of the systems targeted. We conclude with a discussion on the implications of these nondetections.

Detection and characterization of extrasolar planets

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ferlet R.

2009-02-01

Full Text Available The main methods to detect planets orbiting stars other than our Sun are briefly described, together with their present results. Some characteristics of the known systems are emphasized. Particularly interesting are the transiting exoplanets which allow to reveal their atmospheres and ultimately identify biosignatures.

The occurrence of Jovian planets and the habitability of planetary systems

OpenAIRE

Lunine, Jonathan I.

2001-01-01

Planets of mass comparable to or larger than Jupiter's have been detected around over 50 stars, and for one such object a definitive test of its nature as a gas giant has been accomplished with data from an observed planetary transit. By virtue of their strong gravitational pull, giant planets define the dynamical and collisional environment within which terrestrial planets form. In our solar system, the position and timing of the formation of Jupiter determined the am...

Dust-trapping Vortices and a Potentially Planet-triggered Spiral Wake in the Pre-transitional Disk of V1247 Orionis

Science.gov (United States)

Kraus, Stefan; Kreplin, Alexander; Fukugawa, Misato; Muto, Takayuki; Sitko, Michael L.; Young, Alison K.; Bate, Matthew R.; Grady, Carol; Harries, Tim T.; Monnier, John D.; Willson, Matthew; Wisniewski, John

2017-10-01

The radial drift problem constitutes one of the most fundamental problems in planet formation theory, as it predicts particles to drift into the star before they are able to grow to planetesimal size. Dust-trapping vortices have been proposed as a possible solution to this problem, as they might be able to trap particles over millions of years, allowing them to grow beyond the radial drift barrier. Here, we present ALMA 0.″04 resolution imaging of the pre-transitional disk of V1247 Orionis that reveals an asymmetric ring as well as a sharply confined crescent structure, resembling morphologies seen in theoretical models of vortex formation. The asymmetric ring (at 0.″17 = 54 au separation from the star) and the crescent (at 0.″38 = 120 au) seem smoothly connected through a one-armed spiral-arm structure that has been found previously in scattered light. We propose a physical scenario with a planet orbiting at ˜0.″3 ≈ 100 au, where the one-armed spiral arm detected in polarized light traces the accretion stream feeding the protoplanet. The dynamical influence of the planet clears the gap between the ring and the crescent and triggers two vortices that trap millimeter-sized particles, namely, the crescent and the bright asymmetry seen in the ring. We conducted dedicated hydrodynamics simulations of a disk with an embedded planet, which results in similar spiral-arm morphologies as seen in our scattered-light images. At the position of the spiral wake and the crescent we also observe 12CO(3-2) and H12CO+ (4-3) excess line emission, likely tracing the increased scale-height in these disk regions.

Dynamically hot Super-Earths from outer giant planet scattering

OpenAIRE

Huang, Chelsea X.; Petrovich, Cristobal; Deibert, Emily

2016-01-01

The hundreds of multiple planetary systems discovered by the \\textit{Kepler} mission are typically observed to reside in close-in ($\\lesssim0.5$ AU), low-eccentricity, and low-inclination orbits. We run N-body experiments to study the effect that unstable outer ($\\gtrsim1$ AU) giant planets, whose end orbital configurations resemble those in the Radial Velocity population, have on these close-in multiple super-Earth systems. Our experiments show that the giant planets greatly reduce the multi...

Kepler Mission: A Mission to Find Earth-size Planets in the Habitable Zone

Science.gov (United States)

Borucki, W. J.

2003-01-01

The Kepler Mission is a Discovery-class mission designed to continuously monitor the brightness of 100,000 solar-like stars to detect the transits of Earth-size and larger planets. It is a wide field of view photometer Schmidt-type telescope with an array of 42 CCDs. It has a 0.95 m aperture and 1.4 m primary and is designed to attain a photometric precision of 2 parts in 10(exp 5) for 12th magnitude solar-like stars for a 6 hr transit duration. It will continuously observe 100,000 main-sequence stars from 9th to 14th magnitude in the Cygnus constellation for a period of four years with a cadence of 4/hour. An additional 250 stars can be monitored at a cadence of l/minute to do astro-seismology of stars brighter than 11.5 mv. The photometer is scheduled to be launched into heliocentric orbit in 2007. When combined with ground-based spectrometric observations of these stars, the positions of the planets relative to the habitable zone can be found. The spectra of the stars are also used to determine the relationships between the characteristics of terrestrial planets and the characteristics of the stars they orbit. In particular, the association of planet size and occurrence frequency with stellar mass and metallicity will be investigated. Based on the results of the current Doppler-velocity discoveries, over a thousand giant planets will also be found. Information on the albedos and densities of those giants showing transits will be obtained. At the end of the four year mission, hundreds of Earth-size planets should be discovered in and near the HZ of their stars if such planets are common. A null result would imply that terrestrial planets in the HZ are very rare and that life might also be quite rare.

Optical excitations of transition-metal oxides under the orbital multiplicity effects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, J S; Kim, M W; Noh, T W

2005-01-01

We investigated optical excitations of transition-metal (TM) oxides with metal oxygen octahedra taking account of the orbital multiplicity effects. We predicted excitation energies of intersite d-d transitions and p-d transitions of TM oxides. We compared the evaluated excitation energies with reported experimental data, and found that they are in good agreement with each other. Moreover, we could demonstrate possible answers for a few long-standing problems of the low-frequency spectral features in some early 3d TM oxides: (i) the broad and multi-peak structures of the d-d transitions (ii) the low values (around 2 eV) of the d-d transition energies for some t 2g 1 and t 2g 2 systems, and (iii) the lack of the d-d transition below 4.0 eV region for LaCrO 3 , one of the t 2g 3 systems. These indicate that our approach considering the orbital multiplicity effects could provide good explanations of intriguing features in the optical spectra of some early TM oxides. In addition, we showed that optical spectroscopy can be useful as a powerful tool to investigate spin and/or orbital correlations in the TM ions. Finally, we discussed the implications of the orbital multiplicity in the Zannen-Sawatzky-Allen scheme, which has been used successfully to classify correlated electron systems

Atmospheric reconnaissance of the habitable-zone Earth-sized planets orbiting TRAPPIST-1

Science.gov (United States)

de Wit, Julien; Wakeford, Hannah R.; Lewis, Nikole K.; Delrez, Laetitia; Gillon, Michaël; Selsis, Frank; Leconte, Jérémy; Demory, Brice-Olivier; Bolmont, Emeline; Bourrier, Vincent; Burgasser, Adam J.; Grimm, Simon; Jehin, Emmanuël; Lederer, Susan M.; Owen, James E.; Stamenković, Vlada; Triaud, Amaury H. M. J.

2018-03-01

Seven temperate Earth-sized exoplanets readily amenable for atmospheric studies transit the nearby ultracool dwarf star TRAPPIST-1 (refs 1,2). Their atmospheric regime is unknown and could range from extended primordial hydrogen-dominated to depleted atmospheres3-6. Hydrogen in particular is a powerful greenhouse gas that may prevent the habitability of inner planets while enabling the habitability of outer ones6-8. An atmosphere largely dominated by hydrogen, if cloud-free, should yield prominent spectroscopic signatures in the near-infrared detectable during transits. Observations of the innermost planets have ruled out such signatures9. However, the outermost planets are more likely to have sustained such a Neptune-like atmosphere10, 11. Here, we report observations for the four planets within or near the system's habitable zone, the circumstellar region where liquid water could exist on a planetary surface12-14. These planets do not exhibit prominent spectroscopic signatures at near-infrared wavelengths either, which rules out cloud-free hydrogen-dominated atmospheres for TRAPPIST-1 d, e and f, with significance of 8σ, 6σ and 4σ, respectively. Such an atmosphere is instead not excluded for planet g. As high-altitude clouds and hazes are not expected in hydrogen-dominated atmospheres around planets with such insolation15, 16, these observations further support their terrestrial and potentially habitable nature.

MIGRATION OF PLANETS EMBEDDED IN A CIRCUMSTELLAR DISK

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bromley, Benjamin C.; Kenyon, Scott J.

2011-01-01

Planetary migration poses a serious challenge to theories of planet formation. In gaseous and planetesimal disks, migration can remove planets as quickly as they form. To explore migration in a planetesimal disk, we combine analytic and numerical approaches. After deriving general analytic migration rates for isolated planets, we use N-body simulations to confirm these results for fast and slow migration modes. Migration rates scale as m -1 (for massive planets) and (1 + (e H /3) 3 ) -1 , where m is the mass of a planet and e H is the eccentricity of the background planetesimals in Hill units. When multiple planets stir the disk, our simulations yield the new result that large-scale migration ceases. Thus, growing planets do not migrate through planetesimal disks. To extend these results to migration in gaseous disks, we compare physical interactions and rates. Although migration through a gaseous disk is an important issue for the formation of gas giants, we conclude that migration has little impact on the formation of terrestrial planets.

Planet Occurrence within 0.25 AU of Solar-type Stars from Kepler

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Howard, A.W.; Geoffrey, G.W.; Bryson, S.T.

2012-01-01

We report the distribution of planets as a function of planet radius, orbital period, and stellar effective temperature for orbital periods less than 50 days around solar-type (GK) stars. These results are based on the 1235 planets (formally "planet candidates") from the Kepler mission that include...... a nearly complete set of detected planets as small as 2 R ⊕. For each of the 156,000 target stars, we assess the detectability of planets as a function of planet radius, R p, and orbital period, P, using a measure of the detection efficiency for each star. We also correct for the geometric probability...... of transit, R /a. We consider first Kepler target stars within the "solar subset" having T eff = 4100-6100 K, log g = 4.0-4.9, and Kepler magnitude Kp planets down to 2 R...

A Planet Soon to Meet Its Demise

Science.gov (United States)

Kohler, Susanna

2017-02-01

A tiny telescope has discovered a scalding hot world orbiting its star 1,300 light-years from us. KELT-16b may only be around for a few more hundreds of thousands of years, however.Dont Underestimate Tiny TelescopesThe KELT-North telescope in Arizona. This tiny telescope was responsible for the discovery of KELT-16b. [Vanderbilt University]In an era of ever larger observatories, you might think that theres no longer a place for small-aperture ground-based telescopes. But small ground-based telescopes have been responsible for the discovery and characterization of around 250 exoplanets so far and these are the targets that are especially useful for exoplanet science, as they aremore easily followed up than the faint discoveries made by telescopes like Kepler.The Kilogree Extremely Little Telescope (KELT) consists of two telescopes one in Arizona and one in South Africa that each have a 4.2-centimeter aperture. In total, KELT observes roughly 70% of the entire sky searching for planets transiting bright hosts. And its recently found quite an interesting one: KELT-16b. In a publication led by Thomas Oberst (Westminster College in Pennsylvania), a team of scientists presents their find.Combined follow-up light curves obtained for KELT-16b from 19 transits. The best-fit period is just under a day. [Oberst et al. 2017]A Hot WorldKELT-16b is whats known as a hot Jupiter. Using the KELT data and follow-up observations of 19 transits, Oberst and collaborators estimate KELT-16bs radius at roughly 1.4 times that of Jupiter and its mass at 2.75 times Jupiters. Its equilibrium temperature is a scalding 2453 K caused by the fact that it orbits so close to its host star that it completes each orbit in a mere 0.97 days!This short period is extremely unusual: there are only five other known transiting exoplanets with periods shorter than a day. KELT-16b is orbiting very close to its host, making it subject to extreme irradiation and strong tidal forces.Based on KELT-16bs orbit

The capture rate of free-floating planets in our galaxy

Science.gov (United States)

Goulinski, N.; Ribak, E. N.

2017-09-01

We propose that planetary nebulae and supernova remnants may constitute a significant source of free-floating planets. With a large population of free-floating planets, the rate at which these planets get captured by planetary systems may be non-negligible. We predict that about one out of every 100 sub-solar stars are expected to experience a capture of a free-floating planet during their lifetime. The capture cross section calculated through three-body scattering simulations in vacuum conditions. Since planetary systems usually contain multiple planets, and dissipation processes where not included in the simulation, the capture rate may be higher.

On the Radii of Close-in Giant Planets.

Science.gov (United States)

Burrows; Guillot; Hubbard; Marley; Saumon; Lunine; Sudarsky

2000-05-01

The recent discovery that the close-in extrasolar giant planet HD 209458b transits its star has provided a first-of-its-kind measurement of the planet's radius and mass. In addition, there is a provocative detection of the light reflected off of the giant planet tau Bootis b. Including the effects of stellar irradiation, we estimate the general behavior of radius/age trajectories for such planets and interpret the large measured radii of HD 209458b and tau Boo b in that context. We find that HD 209458b must be a hydrogen-rich gas giant. Furthermore, the large radius of a close-in gas giant is not due to the thermal expansion of its atmosphere but to the high residual entropy that remains throughout its bulk by dint of its early proximity to a luminous primary. The large stellar flux does not inflate the planet but retards its otherwise inexorable contraction from a more extended configuration at birth. This implies either that such a planet was formed near its current orbital distance or that it migrated in from larger distances (>/=0.5 AU), no later than a few times 107 yr of birth.

The Kepler Mission: A Mission to Determine the Frequency of Inner Planets Near the Habitable Zone of a Wide Range of Stars

Science.gov (United States)

Borucki, W. J.; Koch, D. G.; Dunham, E. W.; Jenkins, J. M.

1997-01-01

The surprising discovery of giant planets in inner orbits around solar-like stars has brought into question our understanding of the development and evolution of planetary systems, including our solar system. To make further progress, it is critical to detect and obtain data on the frequency and characteristics of Earth-class planets. The Kepler Mission is designed to be a quick, low-cost approach to accomplish that objective. Transits by Earth-class planets produce a fractional change. in stellar brightness of 5 x 10(exp -5) to 40 x 10(exp -5) lasting for 4 to 16 hours. From the period and depth of the transits, the orbit and size of the planets can be calculated. The proposed instrument is a one-meter aperture photometer with a 12 deg. field-of-view (FOV). To obtain the required precision and to avoid interruptions caused by day-night and seasonal cycles, the photometer will be launched into a heliocentric orbit. It will continuously and simultaneously monitor the flux from 80,000 dwarf stars brighter than 14th magnitude in the Cygnus constellation. The mission tests the hypothesis that the formation of most stars produces Earth-class planets in inner orbits. Based on this assumption and the recent observations that 2% of the stars have giant planets in inner orbits, several types of results are expected from the mission: 1. From transits of Earth-class planets, about 480 planet detections and 60 cases where two or more planets are found in the same system. 2. From transits of giant planets, about 160 detections of inner-orbit planets and 24 detections of outer-orbit planets. 3. From the phase modulation of the reflected light from giant planets, about 1400 planet detections with periods less than a week, albedos for 160 of these giant planets, and densities for seven planets.

The Kepler Mission: A Mission to Determine the Frequency of Inner Planets Neat the Habitable Zone of a Wide Range of Stars

Science.gov (United States)

Borucki, W. J.; Koch, D. G.; Dunham, E. W.; Jenkins, J. M.; Young, Richard E. (Technical Monitor)

1997-01-01

The surprising discovery of giant planets in inner orbits around solar-like stars has brought into question our understanding of the development and evolution of planetary systems, including our solar system. To make further progress, it is critical to detect and obtain data on the frequency and characteristics of Earth-class planets. The Kepler Mission is designed to be a quick, low-cost approach to accomplish that objective. Transits by Earth-class planets produce a fractional change in stellar brightness of 5 x 10(exp -5) to 40 x 10(exp -5) lasting for 4 to 16 hours, From the period and depth of the transits, the orbit and size of the planets can be calculated. The proposed instrument is a one-meter aperture photometer with a 12 deg field-of-view (FOV). To obtain the required precision and to avoid interruptions caused by day-night and seasonal cycles, the photometer will be launched into a heliocentric orbit. It will continuously and simultaneously monitor the flux from 80,000 dwarf stars brighter than 14th magnitude in the Cygnus constellation. The mission tests the hypothesis that the formation of most stars produces Earth-class planets in inner orbits. Based on this assumption and the recent observations that 2% of the stars have giant planets in inner orbits, several types of results are expected from the mission: 1. From transits of Earth-class planets, about 480 planet detections and 60 cases where two or more planets are found in the same system. 2. From transits of giant planets, about 160 detections of inner-orbit planets and 24 detections of outer-orbit planets. 3. From the phase modulation of the reflected light from giant planets, about 1400 planet detections with periods less than a week, albedos for 160 of these giant planets, and densities for seven planets.

The Automation and Exoplanet Orbital Characterization from the Gemini Planet Imager Exoplanet Survey

Science.gov (United States)

Jinfei Wang, Jason; Graham, James; Perrin, Marshall; Pueyo, Laurent; Savransky, Dmitry; Kalas, Paul; arriaga, Pauline; Chilcote, Jeffrey K.; De Rosa, Robert J.; Ruffio, Jean-Baptiste; Sivaramakrishnan, Anand; Gemini Planet Imager Exoplanet Survey Collaboration

2018-01-01

The Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) Exoplanet Survey (GPIES) is a multi-year 600-star survey to discover and characterize young Jovian exoplanets and their planet forming environments. For large surveys like GPIES, it is critical to have a uniform dataset processed with the latest techniques and calibrations. I will describe the GPI Data Cruncher, an automated data processing framework that is able to generate fully reduced data minutes after the data are taken and can also reprocess the entire campaign in a single day on a supercomputer. The Data Cruncher integrates into a larger automated data processing infrastructure which syncs, logs, and displays the data. I will discuss the benefits of the GPIES data infrastructure, including optimizing observing strategies, finding planets, characterizing instrument performance, and constraining giant planet occurrence. I will also discuss my work in characterizing the exoplanets we have imaged in GPIES through monitoring their orbits. Using advanced data processing algorithms and GPI's precise astrometric calibration, I will show that GPI can achieve one milliarcsecond astrometry on the extensively-studied planet Beta Pic b. With GPI, we can confidently rule out a possible transit of Beta Pic b, but have precise timings on a Hill sphere transit, and I will discuss efforts to search for transiting circumplanetary material this year. I will also discuss the orbital monitoring of other exoplanets as part of GPIES.

Validation and Initial Characterization of the Long-period Planet Kepler-1654 b

Science.gov (United States)

Beichman, C. A.; Giles, H. A. C.; Akeson, R.; Ciardi, D.; Christiansen, J.; Isaacson, H.; Marcy, G. M.; Sinukoff, E.; Greene, T.; Fortney, J. J.; Crossfield, I.; Hu, R.; Howard, A. W.; Petigura, E. A.; Knutson, H. A.

2018-04-01

Fewer than 20 transiting Kepler planets have periods longer than one year. Our early search of the Kepler light curves revealed one such system, Kepler-1654b (originally KIC 8410697b), which shows exactly two transit events and whose second transit occurred only five days before the failure of the second of two reaction wheels brought the primary Kepler mission to an end. A number of authors have also examined light curves from the Kepler mission searching for long-period planets and identified this candidate. Starting in 2014 September, we began an observational program of imaging, reconnaissance spectroscopy, and precision radial velocity (RV) measurements that confirm with a high degree of confidence that Kepler-1654b is a bona fide transiting planet orbiting a mature G5V star (T eff = 5580 K, [Fe/H] = ‑0.08) with a semimajor axis of 2.03 au, a period of 1047.84 days, and a radius of 0.82 ± 0.02 R Jup. RV measurements using Keck’s HIRES spectrometer obtained over 2.5 years set a limit to the planet’s mass of <0.5 (3σ) M Jup. The bulk density of the planet is similar to that of Saturn or possibly lower. We assess the suitability of temperate gas giants like Kepler-1654b for transit spectroscopy with the James Webb Space Telescope, as their relatively cold equilibrium temperatures (T pl ∼ 200 K) make them interesting from the standpoint of exoplanet atmospheric physics. Unfortunately, these low temperatures also make the atmospheric scale heights small and thus transmission spectroscopy challenging. Finally, the long time between transits can make scheduling JWST observations difficult—as is the case with Kepler-1654b.

NGTS-1b: a hot Jupiter transiting an M-dwarf

Science.gov (United States)

Bayliss, Daniel; Gillen, Edward; Eigmüller, Philipp; McCormac, James; Alexander, Richard D.; Armstrong, David J.; Booth, Rachel S.; Bouchy, François; Burleigh, Matthew R.; Cabrera, Juan; Casewell, Sarah L.; Chaushev, Alexander; Chazelas, Bruno; Csizmadia, Szilard; Erikson, Anders; Faedi, Francesca; Foxell, Emma; Gänsicke, Boris T.; Goad, Michael R.; Grange, Andrew; Günther, Maximilian N.; Hodgkin, Simon T.; Jackman, James; Jenkins, James S.; Lambert, Gregory; Louden, Tom; Metrailler, Lionel; Moyano, Maximiliano; Pollacco, Don; Poppenhaeger, Katja; Queloz, Didier; Raddi, Roberto; Rauer, Heike; Raynard, Liam; Smith, Alexis M. S.; Soto, Maritza; Thompson, Andrew P. G.; Titz-Weider, Ruth; Udry, Stéphane; Walker, Simon R.; Watson, Christopher A.; West, Richard G.; Wheatley, Peter J.

2018-04-01

We present the discovery of NGTS-1b, a hot Jupiter transiting an early M-dwarf host (Teff,* = 3916 ^{+71}_{-63} K) in a P = 2.647 d orbit discovered as part of the Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS). The planet has a mass of 0.812 ^{+0.066}_{-0.075} MJ, making it the most massive planet ever discovered transiting an M-dwarf. The radius of the planet is 1.33 ^{+0.61}_{-0.33} RJ. Since the transit is grazing, we determine this radius by modelling the data and placing a prior on the density from the population of known gas giant planets. NGTS-1b is the third transiting giant planet found around an M-dwarf, reinforcing the notion that close-in gas giants can form and migrate similar to the known population of hot Jupiters around solar-type stars. The host star shows no signs of activity, and the kinematics hint at the star being from the thick disc population. With a deep (2.5 per cent) transit around a K = 11.9 host, NGTS-1b will be a strong candidate to probe giant planet composition around M-dwarfs via James Webb Space Telescope transmission spectroscopy.

DISCOVERY AND ATMOSPHERIC CHARACTERIZATION OF GIANT PLANET KEPLER-12b: AN INFLATED RADIUS OUTLIER

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fortney, Jonathan J.; Nutzman, Philip; Demory, Brice-Olivier; Désert, Jean-Michel; Buchhave, Lars A.; Charbonneau, David; Fressin, François; Rowe, Jason; Caldwell, Douglas A.; Jenkins, Jon M.; Marcy, Geoffrey W.; Isaacson, Howard; Howard, Andrew; Knutson, Heather A.; Ciardi, David; Gautier, Thomas N.; Batalha, Natalie M.; Bryson, Stephen T.; Howell, Steve B.; Everett, Mark

2011-01-01

We report the discovery of planet Kepler-12b (KOI-20), which at 1.695 ± 0.030 R J is among the handful of planets with super-inflated radii above 1.65 R J . Orbiting its slightly evolved G0 host with a 4.438 day period, this 0.431 ± 0.041 M J planet is the least irradiated within this largest-planet-radius group, which has important implications for planetary physics. The planet's inflated radius and low mass lead to a very low density of 0.111 ± 0.010 g cm –3 . We detect the occultation of the planet at a significance of 3.7σ in the Kepler bandpass. This yields a geometric albedo of 0.14 ± 0.04; the planetary flux is due to a combination of scattered light and emitted thermal flux. We use multiple observations with Warm Spitzer to detect the occultation at 7σ and 4σ in the 3.6 and 4.5 μm bandpasses, respectively. The occultation photometry timing is consistent with a circular orbit at e < 0.01 (1σ) and e < 0.09 (3σ). The occultation detections across the three bands favor an atmospheric model with no dayside temperature inversion. The Kepler occultation detection provides significant leverage, but conclusions regarding temperature structure are preliminary, given our ignorance of opacity sources at optical wavelengths in hot Jupiter atmospheres. If Kepler-12b and HD 209458b, which intercept similar incident stellar fluxes, have the same heavy-element masses, the interior energy source needed to explain the large radius of Kepler-12b is three times larger than that of HD 209458b. This may suggest that more than one radius-inflation mechanism is at work for Kepler-12b or that it is less heavy-element rich than other transiting planets.

Kepler Planets Tend to Have Siblings of the Same Size

Science.gov (United States)

Kohler, Susanna

2017-11-01

After 8.5 years of observations with the Kepler space observatory, weve discovered a large number of close-in, tightly-spaced, multiple-planet systems orbiting distant stars. In the process, weve learned a lot about the properties about these systems and discovered some unexpected behavior. A new study explores one of the properties that has surprised us: planets of the same size tend to live together.Orbital architectures for 25 of the authors multiplanet systems. The dots are sized according to the planets relative radii and colored according to mass. Planets of similar sizes and masses tend to live together in the same system. [Millholland et al. 2017]Ordering of SystemsFrom Keplers observations of extrasolar multiplanet systems, we have seen that the sizes of planets in a given system arent completely random. Systems that contain a large planet, for example, are more likely to contain additional large planets rather than additional planets of random size. So though there is a large spread in the radii weve observed for transiting exoplanets, the spread within any given multiplanet system tends to be much smaller.This odd behavior has led us to ask whether this clustering occurs not just for radius, but also for mass. Since the multiplanet systems discovered by Kepler most often contain super-Earths and mini-Neptunes, which have an extremely large spread in densities, the fact that two such planets have similar radii does not guarantee that they have similar masses.If planets dont cluster in mass within a system, this would raise the question of why planets coordinate only their radii within a given system. If they do cluster in mass, it implies that planets within the same system tend to have similar densities, potentially allowing us to predict the sizes and masses of planets we might find in a given system.Insight into MassesLed by NSF graduate research fellow Sarah Millholland, a team of scientists at Yale University used recently determined masses for

LACK OF INFLATED RADII FOR KEPLER GIANT PLANET CANDIDATES RECEIVING MODEST STELLAR IRRADIATION

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Demory, Brice-Olivier; Seager, Sara

2011-01-01

The most irradiated transiting hot Jupiters are characterized by anomalously inflated radii, sometimes exceeding Jupiter's size by more than 60%. While different theoretical explanations have been applied, none of them provide a universal resolution to this observation, despite significant progress in the past years. We refine the photometric transit light curve analysis of 115 Kepler giant planet candidates based on public Q0-Q2 photometry. We find that 14% of them are likely false positives, based on their secondary eclipse depth. We report on planet radii versus stellar flux. We find an increase in planet radii with increased stellar irradiation for the Kepler giant planet candidates, in good agreement with existing hot Jupiter systems. We find that in the case of modest irradiation received from the stellar host, giant planets do not have inflated radii, and appear to have radii independent of the host star incident flux. This finding suggests that the physical mechanisms inflating hot Jupiters become ineffective below a given orbit-averaged stellar irradiation level of ∼2 × 10 8 erg s –1 cm –2 .

KEPLER'S FIRST ROCKY PLANET: KEPLER-10b

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Batalha, Natalie M.; Borucki, William J.; Bryson, Stephen T.; Haas, Michael R.; Koch, David G.; Lissauer, Jack J.; Rowe, Jason F.; Buchhave, Lars A.; Fressin, Francois; Latham, David W.; Caldwell, Douglas A.; Jenkins, Jon M.; Christensen-Dalsgaard, Joergen; Kjeldsen, Hans; Ciardi, David; Dunham, Edward W.; Gautier, Thomas N. III; Gilliland, Ronald L.; Howell, Steve B.; Marcy, Geoffrey W.

2011-01-01

NASA's Kepler Mission uses transit photometry to determine the frequency of Earth-size planets in or near the habitable zone of Sun-like stars. The mission reached a milestone toward meeting that goal: the discovery of its first rocky planet, Kepler-10b. Two distinct sets of transit events were detected: (1) a 152 ± 4 ppm dimming lasting 1.811 ± 0.024 hr with ephemeris T [BJD] =2454964.57375 +0.00060 -0.00082 + N*0.837495 +0.000004 -0.000005 days and (2) a 376 ± 9 ppm dimming lasting 6.86 ± 0.07 hr with ephemeris T [BJD] =2454971.6761 +0.0020 -0.0023 + N*45.29485 +0.00065 -0.00076 days. Statistical tests on the photometric and pixel flux time series established the viability of the planet candidates triggering ground-based follow-up observations. Forty precision Doppler measurements were used to confirm that the short-period transit event is due to a planetary companion. The parent star is bright enough for asteroseismic analysis. Photometry was collected at 1 minute cadence for >4 months from which we detected 19 distinct pulsation frequencies. Modeling the frequencies resulted in precise knowledge of the fundamental stellar properties. Kepler-10 is a relatively old (11.9 ± 4.5 Gyr) but otherwise Sun-like main-sequence star with T eff = 5627 ± 44 K, M * = 0.895 ± 0.060 M sun , and R * = 1.056 ± 0.021 R sun . Physical models simultaneously fit to the transit light curves and the precision Doppler measurements yielded tight constraints on the properties of Kepler-10b that speak to its rocky composition: M P = 4.56 +1.17 -1.29 M + , R P = 1.416 +0.033 -0.036 R + , and ρ P = 8.8 +2.1 -2.9 g cm -3 . Kepler-10b is the smallest transiting exoplanet discovered to date.

Improving Transit Predictions of Known Exoplanets with TERMS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mahadevan S.

2011-02-01

Full Text Available Transiting planet discoveries have largely been restricted to the short-period or low-periastron distance regimes due to the bias inherent in the geometric transit probability. Through the refinement of planetary orbital parameters, and hence reducing the size of transit windows, long-period planets become feasible targets for photometric follow-up. Here we describe the TERMS project that is monitoring these host stars at predicted transit times.

Kepler-91b: a planet at the end of its life. Planet and giant host star properties via light-curve variations

Science.gov (United States)

Lillo-Box, J.; Barrado, D.; Moya, A.; Montesinos, B.; Montalbán, J.; Bayo, A.; Barbieri, M.; Régulo, C.; Mancini, L.; Bouy, H.; Henning, T.

2014-02-01

Context. The evolution of planetary systems is intimately linked to the evolution of their host stars. Our understanding of the whole planetary evolution process is based on the wide planet diversity observed so far. Only a few tens of planets have been discovered orbiting stars ascending the red giant branch. Although several theories have been proposed, the question of how planets die remains open owing to the small number statistics, making it clear that the sample of planets around post-main sequence stars needs to be enlarged. Aims: In this work we study the giant star Kepler-91 (KOI-2133) in order to determine the nature of a transiting companion. This system was detected by the Kepler Space Telescope, which identified small dims in its light curve with a period of 6.246580 ± 0.000082 days. However, its planetary confirmation is needed due to the large pixel size of the Kepler camera, which can hide other stellar configurations able to mimic planet-like transit events. Methods: We analysed Kepler photometry to 1) re-calculate transit parameters; 2) study the light-curve modulations; and 3) to perform an asteroseismic analysis (accurate stellar parameter determination) by identifying solar-like oscillations on the periodogram. We also used a high-resolution and high signal-to-noise ratio spectrum obtained with the Calar Alto Fiber-fed Échelle spectrograph (CAFE) to measure stellar properties. Additionally, false-positive scenarios were rejected by obtaining high-resolution images with the AstraLux lucky imaging camera on the 2.2 m telescope at the Calar Alto Observatory. Results: We confirm the planetary nature of the object transiting the star Kepler-91 by deriving a mass of Mp=0.88+0.17-0.33 MJup and a planetary radius of Rp=1.384+0.011-0.054 RJup. Asteroseismic analysis produces a stellar radius of R⋆ = 6.30 ± 0.16 R⊙ and a mass of M⋆ = 1.31 ± 0.10 M⊙. We find that its eccentric orbit (e=0.066+0.013-0.017) is just 1.32+0.07-0.22 R⋆ away from

No Snowball on Habitable Tidally Locked Planets

Science.gov (United States)

Checlair, Jade; Menou, Kristen; Abbot, Dorian S.

2017-08-01

The TRAPPIST-1, Proxima Centauri, and LHS 1140 systems are the most exciting prospects for future follow-up observations of potentially inhabited planets. All of the planets orbit nearby M-stars and are likely tidally locked in 1:1 spin–orbit states, which motivates the consideration of the effects that tidal locking might have on planetary habitability. On Earth, periods of global glaciation (snowballs) may have been essential for habitability and remote signs of life (biosignatures) because they are correlated with increases in the complexity of life and in the atmospheric oxygen concentration. In this paper, we investigate the snowball bifurcation (sudden onset of global glaciation) on tidally locked planets using both an energy balance model and an intermediate-complexity global climate model. We show that tidally locked planets are unlikely to exhibit a snowball bifurcation as a direct result of the spatial pattern of insolation they receive. Instead, they will smoothly transition from partial to complete ice coverage and back. A major implication of this work is that tidally locked planets with an active carbon cycle should not be found in a snowball state. Moreover, this work implies that tidally locked planets near the outer edge of the habitable zone with low CO2 outgassing fluxes will equilibrate with a small unglaciated substellar region rather than cycling between warm and snowball states. More work is needed to determine how the lack of a snowball bifurcation might affect the development of life on a tidally locked planet.

No Snowball on Habitable Tidally Locked Planets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Checlair, Jade; Abbot, Dorian S.; Menou, Kristen

2017-01-01

The TRAPPIST-1, Proxima Centauri, and LHS 1140 systems are the most exciting prospects for future follow-up observations of potentially inhabited planets. All of the planets orbit nearby M-stars and are likely tidally locked in 1:1 spin–orbit states, which motivates the consideration of the effects that tidal locking might have on planetary habitability. On Earth, periods of global glaciation (snowballs) may have been essential for habitability and remote signs of life (biosignatures) because they are correlated with increases in the complexity of life and in the atmospheric oxygen concentration. In this paper, we investigate the snowball bifurcation (sudden onset of global glaciation) on tidally locked planets using both an energy balance model and an intermediate-complexity global climate model. We show that tidally locked planets are unlikely to exhibit a snowball bifurcation as a direct result of the spatial pattern of insolation they receive. Instead, they will smoothly transition from partial to complete ice coverage and back. A major implication of this work is that tidally locked planets with an active carbon cycle should not be found in a snowball state. Moreover, this work implies that tidally locked planets near the outer edge of the habitable zone with low CO 2 outgassing fluxes will equilibrate with a small unglaciated substellar region rather than cycling between warm and snowball states. More work is needed to determine how the lack of a snowball bifurcation might affect the development of life on a tidally locked planet.

ANISOTROPIC WINDS FROM CLOSE-IN EXTRASOLAR PLANETS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stone, James M.; Proga, Daniel

2009-01-01

We present two-dimensional hydrodynamic models of thermally driven winds from highly irradiated, close-in extrasolar planets. We adopt a very simple treatment of the radiative heating processes at the base of the wind, and instead focus on the differences between the properties of outflows in multidimensions in comparison to spherically symmetric models computed with the same methods. For hot (T ∼> 2 x 10 4 K) or highly ionized gas, we find that strong (supersonic) polar flows are formed above the planet surface which produce weak shocks and outflow on the night side. In comparison to a spherically symmetric wind with the same parameters, the sonic surface on the day side is much closer to the planet surface in multidimensions, and the total mass-loss rate is reduced by almost a factor of 4. We also compute the steady-state structure of interacting planetary and stellar winds. Both winds end in a termination shock, with a parabolic contact discontinuity which is draped over the planet separating the two shocked winds. The planetary wind termination shock and the sonic surface in the wind are well separated, so that the mass-loss rate from the planet is essentially unaffected. However, the confinement of the planetary wind to the small volume bounded by the contact discontinuity greatly enhances the column density close to the planet, which might be important for the interpretation of observations of absorption lines formed by gas surrounding transiting planets.

Dust-trapping Vortices and a Potentially Planet-triggered Spiral Wake in the Pre-transitional Disk of V1247 Orionis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kraus, Stefan; Kreplin, Alexander; Young, Alison K.; Bate, Matthew R.; Harries, Tim T.; Willson, Matthew [University of Exeter, School of Physics, Astrophysics Group, Stocker Road, Exeter EX4 4QL (United Kingdom); Fukugawa, Misato [Division of Particle and Astrophysical Science, Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University, Nagoya (Japan); Muto, Takayuki [Division of Liberal Arts, Kogakuin University, 1-24-2 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 163-8677 (Japan); Sitko, Michael L. [Department of Physics, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221 (United States); Grady, Carol [Eureka Scientific, 2452 Delmer Street, Suite 100, Oakland, CA 96402 (United States); Monnier, John D. [Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan, 311 West Hall, 1085 South University Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (United States); Wisniewski, John, E-mail: skraus@astro.ex.ac.uk [Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73071 (United States)

2017-10-10

The radial drift problem constitutes one of the most fundamental problems in planet formation theory, as it predicts particles to drift into the star before they are able to grow to planetesimal size. Dust-trapping vortices have been proposed as a possible solution to this problem, as they might be able to trap particles over millions of years, allowing them to grow beyond the radial drift barrier. Here, we present ALMA 0.″04 resolution imaging of the pre-transitional disk of V1247 Orionis that reveals an asymmetric ring as well as a sharply confined crescent structure, resembling morphologies seen in theoretical models of vortex formation. The asymmetric ring (at 0.″17 = 54 au separation from the star) and the crescent (at 0.″38 = 120 au) seem smoothly connected through a one-armed spiral-arm structure that has been found previously in scattered light. We propose a physical scenario with a planet orbiting at ∼0.″3 ≈ 100 au, where the one-armed spiral arm detected in polarized light traces the accretion stream feeding the protoplanet. The dynamical influence of the planet clears the gap between the ring and the crescent and triggers two vortices that trap millimeter-sized particles, namely, the crescent and the bright asymmetry seen in the ring. We conducted dedicated hydrodynamics simulations of a disk with an embedded planet, which results in similar spiral-arm morphologies as seen in our scattered-light images. At the position of the spiral wake and the crescent we also observe {sup 12}CO(3-2) and H{sup 12}CO{sup +} (4-3) excess line emission, likely tracing the increased scale-height in these disk regions.

WTS: A near-infrared transit survey

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hodgkin Simon

2013-04-01

Full Text Available The WFCAM Transit Survey is a transiting planet survey running on the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope targeting M dwarf stars in the near infrared. The survey has been operating since 2007 and gathering photometric time series of about 15000 M dwarf stars brighter than J = 17 mag. We identified and followed-up planet candidates from the most complete field and found two hot Jupiters around non-M dwarf hosts (WTS-1b & WTS-2b but found no planets around the M dwarfs.

STELLAR ACTIVITY AND EXCLUSION OF THE OUTER PLANET IN THE HD 99492 SYSTEM

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kane, Stephen R.; Thirumalachari, Badrinath; Hinkel, Natalie R. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, San Francisco State University, 1600 Holloway Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94132 (United States); Henry, Gregory W. [Center of Excellence in Information Systems, Tennessee State University, 3500 John A. Merritt Blvd., Box 9501, Nashville, TN 37209 (United States); Jensen, Eric L. N. [Dept of Physics and Astronomy, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA 19081 (United States); Boyajian, Tabetha S.; Fischer, Debra A. [Department of Astronomy, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511 (United States); Howard, Andrew W. [Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States); Isaacson, Howard T. [Astronomy Department, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Wright, Jason T., E-mail: skane@sfsu.edu [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University, 525 Davey Laboratory, University Park, PA 16802 (United States)

2016-03-20

A historical problem for indirect exoplanet detection has been contending with the intrinsic variability of the host star. If the variability is periodic, it can easily mimic various exoplanet signatures, such as radial velocity (RV) variations that originate with the stellar surface rather than the presence of a planet. Here we present an update for the HD 99492 planetary system, using new RV and photometric measurements from the Transit Ephemeris Refinement and Monitoring Survey. Our extended time series and subsequent analyses of the Ca ii H and K emission lines show that the host star has an activity cycle of ∼13 years. The activity cycle correlates with the purported orbital period of the outer planet, the signature of which is thus likely due to the host star activity. We further include a revised Keplerian orbital solution for the remaining planet, along with a new transit ephemeris. Our transit-search observations were inconclusive.

Doppler spectroscopy as a path to the detection of Earth-like planets.

Science.gov (United States)

Mayor, Michel; Lovis, Christophe; Santos, Nuno C

2014-09-18

Doppler spectroscopy was the first technique used to reveal the existence of extrasolar planetary systems hosted by solar-type stars. Radial-velocity surveys led to the detection of a rich population of super-Earths and Neptune-type planets. The numerous detected systems revealed a remarkable diversity. Combining Doppler measurements with photometric observations of planets transiting their host stars further provides access to the planet bulk density, a first step towards comparative exoplanetology. The development of new high-precision spectrographs and space-based facilities will ultimately lead us to characterize rocky planets in the habitable zone of our close stellar neighbours.

P-TYPE PLANET–PLANET SCATTERING: KEPLER CLOSE BINARY CONFIGURATIONS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gong, Yan-Xiang

2017-01-01

A hydrodynamical simulation shows that a circumbinary planet will migrate inward to the edge of the disk cavity. If multiple planets form in a circumbinary disk, successive migration will lead to planet–planet scattering (PPS). PPS of Kepler -like circumbinary planets is discussed in this paper. The aim of this paper is to answer how PPS affects the formation of these planets. We find that a close binary has a significant influence on the scattering process. If PPS occurs near the unstable boundary of a binary, about 10% of the systems can be completely destroyed after PPS. In more than 90% of the systems, there is only one planet left. Unlike the eccentricity distribution produced by PPS in a single star system, the surviving planets generally have low eccentricities if PPS take place near the location of the currently found circumbinary planets. In addition, the ejected planets are generally the innermost of two initial planets. The above results depend on the initial positions of the two planets. If the initial positions of the planets are moved away from the binary, the evolution tends toward statistics similar to those around single stars. In this process, the competition between the planet–planet force and the planet-binary force makes the eccentricity distribution of surviving planets diverse. These new features of P-type PPS will deepen our understanding of the formation of these circumbinary planets.

THE LAST GASP OF GAS GIANT PLANET FORMATION: A SPITZER STUDY OF THE 5 Myr OLD CLUSTER NGC 2362

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Currie, Thayne; Lada, Charles J.; Robitaille, Thomas P.; Irwin, Jonathan; Kenyon, Scott J.; Plavchan, Peter

2009-01-01

Expanding upon the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) survey from Dahm and Hillenbrand, we describe Spitzer IRAC and Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer observations of the populous, 5 Myr old open cluster NGC 2362. We analyze the mid-IR colors of cluster members and compared their spectral energy distributions (SEDs) to star+circumstellar disk models to constrain the disk morphologies and evolutionary states. Early/intermediate-type confirmed/candidate cluster members either have photospheric mid-IR emission or weak, optically thin IR excess emission at λ ≥ 24 μm consistent with debris disks. Few late-type, solar/subsolar-mass stars have primordial disks. The disk population around late-type stars is dominated by disks with inner holes (canonical 'transition disks') and 'homologously depleted' disks. Both types of disks represent an intermediate stage between primordial disks and debris disks. Thus, in agreement with previous results, we find that multiple paths for the primordial-to-debris disk transition exist. Because these 'evolved primordial disks' greatly outnumber primordial disks, our results undermine standard arguments in favor of a ∼ 5 yr timescale for the transition based on data from Taurus-Auriga. Because the typical transition timescale is far longer than 10 5 yr, these data also appear to rule out standard ultraviolet photoevaporation scenarios as the primary mechanism to explain the transition. Combining our data with other Spitzer surveys, we investigate the evolution of debris disks around high/intermediate-mass stars and investigate timescales for giant planet formation. Consistent with Currie et al., the luminosity of 24 μm emission in debris disks due to planet formation peaks at ∼10-20 Myr. If the gas and dust in disks evolve on similar timescales, the formation timescale for gas giant planets surrounding early-type, high/intermediate-mass (∼>1.4 M sun ) stars is likely 1-5 Myr. Most solar/subsolar-mass stars detected by Spitzer

Over 100 Validated and Candidate Planets Orbiting Bright Stars in K2 Campaigns 0-10

Science.gov (United States)

Mayo, Andrew; Vanderburg, Andrew; Latham, David; Bieryla, Allyson; Morton, Timothy

2018-01-01

Since 2014, NASA's K2 mission has observed large portions of the ecliptic plane in search of transiting planets and has detected hundreds of planet candidates. With observations planned until at least early 2018, K2 will continue to identify more planet candidates. We present here over 250 planet candidates observed during Campaigns 0-10 of the K2 mission that are orbiting stars brighter than 13th magnitude and for which we have obtained high-resolution spectra. We analyze these candidates using the VESPA package in order to calculate the false positive probability (FPP), and find that more than half are validated with a FPP less than 0.1%. We show that like the population of planets found during the original Kepler mission, large planets discovered by K2 tend to orbit metal-rich stars. We also show tentative evidence of a gap in the planet radius distribution. We compare our sample to the Kepler candidate sample investigated by Fulton and collaborators and conclude that more planets are required to confirm the gap. This work, in addition to increasing the population of validated K2 planets and providing new targets for follow-up observations, will also serve as a framework for validating candidates from upcoming K2 campaigns and the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), expected to launch in 2018.

FORMATION, SURVIVAL, AND DETECTABILITY OF PLANETS BEYOND 100 AU

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Veras, Dimitri; Crepp, Justin R.; Ford, Eric B.

2009-01-01

Direct imaging searches have begun to detect planetary and brown dwarf companions and to place constraints on the presence of giant planets at large separations from their host star. This work helps to motivate such planet searches by predicting a population of young giant planets that could be detectable by direct imaging campaigns. Both the classical core accretion and the gravitational instability model for planet formation are hard pressed to form long-period planets in situ. Here, we show that dynamical instabilities among planetary systems that originally formed multiple giant planets much closer to the host star could produce a population of giant planets at large (∼ 10 2 -10 5 AU) separations. We estimate the limits within which these planets may survive, quantify the efficiency of gravitational scattering into both stable and unstable wide orbits, and demonstrate that population analyses must take into account the age of the system. We predict that planet scattering creates detectable giant planets on wide orbits that decreases in number on timescales of ∼ 10 Myr. We demonstrate that several members of such populations should be detectable with current technology, quantify the prospects for future instruments, and suggest how they could place interesting constraints on planet formation models.

SDSS-III MARVELS Planet Candidate RV Follow-up

Science.gov (United States)

Ge, Jian; Thomas, Neil; Ma, Bo; Li, Rui; SIthajan, Sirinrat

2014-02-01

Planetary systems, discovered by the radial velocity (RV) surveys, reveal strong correlations between the planet frequency and stellar properties, such as metallicity and mass, and a greater diversity in planets than found in the solar system. However, due to the sample sizes of extant surveys (~100 to a few hundreds of stars) and their heterogeneity, many key questions remained to be addressed: Do metal poor stars obey the same trends for planet occurrence as metal rich stars? What is the distribution of giant planets around intermediate- mass stars and binaries? Is the ``planet desert'' within 0.6 AU in the planet orbital distribution of intermediate-mass stars real? The MARVELS survey has produced the largest homogeneous RV measurements of 3300 V=7.6-12 FGK stars. The latest data pipeline effort at UF has been able to remove long term systematic errors suffered in the earlier data pipeline. 18 high confident giant planet candidates have been identified among newly processed data. We propose to follow up these giant planet candidates with the KPNO EXPERT instrument to confirm the detection and also characterize their orbits. The confirmed planets will be used to measure occurrence rates, distributions and multiplicity of giants planets around F,G,K stars with a broad range of mass (~0.6-2.5 M_⊙) and metallicity ([Fe/H]~-1.5-0.5). The well defined MARVELS survey cadence allows robust determinations of completeness limits for rigorously testing giant planet formation theories and constraining models.

Scattering of exocomets by a planet chain: exozodi levels and the delivery of cometary material to inner planets

Science.gov (United States)

Marino, Sebastian; Bonsor, Amy; Wyatt, Mark C.; Kral, Quentin

2018-06-01

Exocomets scattered by planets have been invoked to explain observations in multiple contexts, including the frequently found near- and mid-infrared excess around nearby stars arising from exozodiacal dust. Here we investigate how the process of inward scattering of comets originating in an outer belt, is affected by the architecture of a planetary system, to determine whether this could lead to observable exozodi levels or deliver volatiles to inner planets. Using N-body simulations, we model systems with different planet mass and orbital spacing distributions in the 1-50 AU region. We find that tightly packed (Δap planets are the most efficient at delivering material to exozodi regions (5-7% of scattered exocomets end up within 0.5 AU at some point), although the exozodi levels do not vary by more than a factor of ˜7 for the architectures studied here. We suggest that emission from scattered dusty material in between the planets could provide a potential test for this delivery mechanism. We show that the surface density of scattered material can vary by two orders of magnitude (being highest for systems of low mass planets with medium spacing), whilst the exozodi delivery rate stays roughly constant, and that future instruments such as JWST could detect it. In fact for η Corvi, the current Herschel upper limit rules our the scattering scenario by a chain of ≲30 M⊕ planets. Finally, we show that exocomets could be efficient at delivering cometary material to inner planets (0.1-1% of scattered comets are accreted per inner planet). Overall, the best systems at delivering comets to inner planets are the ones that have low mass outer planets and medium spacing (˜20RH, m).

Types of Information Expected from a Photometric Search for Extra-Solar Planets

Science.gov (United States)

Borucki, William; Koch, David; Bell, James, III; Cuzzi, Jeffrey N. (Technical Monitor)

1994-01-01

The current theory postulates that planets are a consequence of the formation of stars from viscous accretion disks. Condensation from the hotter, inner portion of the accretion disk favors the formation of small rocky planets in the inner portion and the formation of gas giants in the cuter, cooler part. Consequently, terrestrial-type planets in inner orbits must be commonplace (Wetheril 1991). From the geometry of the situation (Borucki and Summers 1984), it can be shown that 1% of those planetary systems that resemble our solar system should show transits for Earth-sized (or larger) planets. Thus a photometric satellite that uses a wide field of view telescope and a large CCD array to simultaneously monitor 5000 target stars should detect 50 planetary systems. To verify that regularly recurring transits are occurring rather than statistical fluctuations of the stellar flux, demands observations that extend over several orbital periods so that the constancy of the orbital period, signal amplitude, and duration can be measured. Therefore, to examine the region from Mercury's orbit to that of the Earth requires a duration of three years whereas a search out to the orbit of mars requires about six years. The results of the observations should provide estimates of the distributions of planetary size and orbital radius, and the frequency of planetary systems that have Earth-sized planets in inner orbits. Because approximately one half of the star systems observed will be binary systems, the frequency of planetary systems orbit ' ing either one or both of the stars can also be determined. Furthermore, the complexity of the photometric signature of a planet transiting a pair of stars provides enough information to estimate the eccentricities of the planetary orbits. In summary, the statistical evidence from a photometric search of solar-like stars should be able to either confirm or deny the applicability of the current theory of planet formation and provide new

A SYSTEMATIC SEARCH FOR TROJAN PLANETS IN THE KEPLER DATA

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Janson, Markus, E-mail: janson@astro.princeton.edu [Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544 (United States)

2013-09-10

Trojans are circumstellar bodies that reside in characteristic 1:1 orbital resonances with planets. While all the trojans in our solar system are small ({approx}<100 km), stable planet-size trojans may exist in extrasolar planetary systems, and the Kepler telescope constitutes a formidable tool to search for them. Here we report on a systematic search for extrasolar trojan companions to 2244 known Kepler Objects of Interest (KOIs), with epicyclic orbital characteristics similar to those of the Jovian trojan families. No convincing trojan candidates are found, despite a typical sensitivity down to Earth-size objects. This fact, however, cannot be used to stringently exclude the existence of trojans in this size range, since stable trojans need not necessarily share the same orbital plane as the planet, and thus may not transit. Following this reasoning, we note that if Earth-sized trojans exist at all, they are almost certainly both present and in principle detectable in the full set of Kepler data, although a very substantial computational effort would be required to detect them. Additionally, we also note that some of the existing KOIs could in principle be trojans themselves, with a primary planet orbiting outside of the transiting plane. A few examples are given for which this is a readily testable scenario.

A planet in a polar orbit of 1.4 solar-mass star

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Guenther E.W.

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Although more than a thousand transiting extrasolar planets have been discovered, only very few of them orbit stars that are more massive than the Sun. The discovery of such planets is interesting, because they have formed in disks that are more massive but had a shorter life time than those of solar-like stars. Studies of planets more massive than the Sun thus tell us how the properties of the proto-planetary disks effect the formation of planets. Another aspect that makes these planets interesting is that they have kept their original orbital inclinations. By studying them we can thus find out whether the orbital axes planets are initially aligned to the stars rotational axes, or not. Here we report on the discovery of a planet of a 1.4 solar-mass star with a period of 5.6 days in a polar orbit made by CoRoT. This new planet thus is one of the few known close-in planets orbiting a star that is substantially more massive than the Sun.

No Snowball on Habitable Tidally Locked Planets

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Checlair, Jade; Abbot, Dorian S. [Department of the Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, 5734 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637 (United States); Menou, Kristen, E-mail: jadecheclair@uchicago.edu [Centre for Planetary Sciences, Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, University of Toronto at Scarborough, Toronto, ON M1C 1A4 (Canada)

2017-08-20

The TRAPPIST-1, Proxima Centauri, and LHS 1140 systems are the most exciting prospects for future follow-up observations of potentially inhabited planets. All of the planets orbit nearby M-stars and are likely tidally locked in 1:1 spin–orbit states, which motivates the consideration of the effects that tidal locking might have on planetary habitability. On Earth, periods of global glaciation (snowballs) may have been essential for habitability and remote signs of life (biosignatures) because they are correlated with increases in the complexity of life and in the atmospheric oxygen concentration. In this paper, we investigate the snowball bifurcation (sudden onset of global glaciation) on tidally locked planets using both an energy balance model and an intermediate-complexity global climate model. We show that tidally locked planets are unlikely to exhibit a snowball bifurcation as a direct result of the spatial pattern of insolation they receive. Instead, they will smoothly transition from partial to complete ice coverage and back. A major implication of this work is that tidally locked planets with an active carbon cycle should not be found in a snowball state. Moreover, this work implies that tidally locked planets near the outer edge of the habitable zone with low CO{sub 2} outgassing fluxes will equilibrate with a small unglaciated substellar region rather than cycling between warm and snowball states. More work is needed to determine how the lack of a snowball bifurcation might affect the development of life on a tidally locked planet.

A Demonstration Setup to Simulate Detection of Planets outside the Solar System

Science.gov (United States)

Choopan, W.; Ketpichainarong, W.; Laosinchai, P.; Panijpan, B.

2011-01-01

We constructed a simple demonstration setup to simulate an extrasolar planet and its star revolving around the system's centre of mass. Periodic dimming of light from the star by the transiting planet and the star's orbital revolution simulate the two major ways of deducing the presence of an exoplanet near a distant star. Apart from being a…

Planet-driven Spiral Arms in Protoplanetary Disks. I. Formation Mechanism

Science.gov (United States)

Bae, Jaehan; Zhu, Zhaohuan

2018-06-01

Protoplanetary disk simulations show that a single planet can excite more than one spiral arm, possibly explaining the recent observations of multiple spiral arms in some systems. In this paper, we explain the mechanism by which a planet excites multiple spiral arms in a protoplanetary disk. Contrary to previous speculations, the formation of both primary and additional arms can be understood as a linear process when the planet mass is sufficiently small. A planet resonantly interacts with epicyclic oscillations in the disk, launching spiral wave modes around the Lindblad resonances. When a set of wave modes is in phase, they can constructively interfere with each other and create a spiral arm. More than one spiral arm can form because such constructive interference can occur for different sets of wave modes, with the exact number and launching position of the spiral arms being dependent on the planet mass as well as the disk temperature profile. Nonlinear effects become increasingly important as the planet mass increases, resulting in spiral arms with stronger shocks and thus larger pitch angles. This is found to be common for both primary and additional arms. When a planet has a sufficiently large mass (≳3 thermal masses for (h/r) p = 0.1), only two spiral arms form interior to its orbit. The wave modes that would form a tertiary arm for smaller mass planets merge with the primary arm. Improvements in our understanding of the formation of spiral arms can provide crucial insights into the origin of observed spiral arms in protoplanetary disks.

WFIRST: Retrieval Studies of Directly Imaged Extrasolar Giant Planets

Science.gov (United States)

Marley, Mark; Lupu, Roxana; Lewis, Nikole K.; WFIRST Coronagraph SITs

2018-01-01

The typical direct imaging and spectroscopy target for the WFIRST Coronagraph will be a mature Jupiter-mass giant planet at a few AU from an FGK star. The spectra of such planets is expected to be shaped primarily by scattering from H2O clouds and absorption by gaseous NH3 and CH4. We have computed forward model spectra of such typical planets and applied noise models to understand the quality of photometry and spectra we can expect. Using such simulated datasets we have conducted Markov Chain Monte Carlo and MultiNest retrievals to derive atmospheric abundance of CH4, cloud scattering properties, gravity, and other parameters for various planets and observing modes. Our focus has primarily been to understand which combinations of photometry and spectroscopy at what SNR allow retrievals of atmospheric methane mixing ratios to within a factor of ten of the true value. This is a challenging task for directly imaged planets as the planet mass and radius--and thus surface gravity--are not as well constrained as in the case of transiting planets. We find that for plausible planets and datasets of the quality expected to be obtained by WFIRST it should be possible to place such constraints, at least for some planets. We present some examples of our retrieval results and explain how they have been utilized to help set design requirements on the coronagraph camera and integrated field spectrometer.

The Fate of Unstable Circumbinary Planets

Science.gov (United States)

Kohler, Susanna

2016-03-01

What happens to Tattooine-like planets that are instead in unstable orbits around their binary star system? A new study examines whether such planets will crash into a host star, get ejected from the system, or become captured into orbit around one of their hosts.Orbit Around a DuoAt this point we have unambiguously detected multiple circumbinary planets, raising questions about these planets formation and evolution. Current models suggest that it is unlikely that circumbinary planets would be able to form in the perturbed environment close their host stars. Instead, its thought that the planets formed at a distance and then migrated inwards.One danger such planets face when migrating is encountering ranges of radii where their orbits become unstable. Two scientists at the University of Chicago, Adam Sutherland and Daniel Fabrycky, have studied what happens when circumbinary planets migrate into such a region and develop unstable orbits.Producing Rogue PlanetsTime for planets to either be ejected or collide with one of the two stars, as a function of the planets starting distance (in AU) from the binary barycenter. Colors represent different planetary eccentricities. [Sutherland Fabrycky 2016]Sutherland and Fabrycky used N-body simulations to determine the fates of planets orbiting around a star system consisting of two stars a primary like our Sun and a secondary roughly a tenth of its size that are separated by 1 AU.The authors find that the most common fate for a circumbinary planet with an unstable orbit is ejection from the system; over 80% of unstable planets were ejected. This has interesting implications: if the formation of circumbinary planets is common, this mechanism could be filling the Milky Way with a population of free-floating, rogue planets that no longer are associated with their host star.The next most common outcome for unstable planets is collision with one of their host stars (most often the secondary), resulting inaccretion of the planet

Planetary populations in the mass-period diagram: A statistical treatment of exoplanet formation and the role of planet traps

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hasegawa, Yasuhiro; Pudritz, Ralph E.

2013-01-01

The rapid growth of observed exoplanets has revealed the existence of several distinct planetary populations in the mass-period diagram. Two of the most surprising are (1) the concentration of gas giants around 1 AU and (2) the accumulation of a large number of low-mass planets with tight orbits, also known as super-Earths and hot Neptunes. We have recently shown that protoplanetary disks have multiple planet traps that are characterized by orbital radii in the disks and halt rapid type I planetary migration. By coupling planet traps with the standard core accretion scenario, we showed that one can account for the positions of planets in the mass-period diagram. In this paper, we demonstrate quantitatively that most gas giants formed at planet traps tend to end up around 1 AU, with most of these being contributed by dead zones and ice lines. We also show that a large fraction of super-Earths and hot Neptunes are formed as 'failed' cores of gas giants—this population being constituted by comparable contributions from dead zone and heat transition traps. Our results are based on the evolution of forming planets in an ensemble of disks where we vary only the lifetimes of disks and their mass accretion rates onto the host star. We show that a statistical treatment of the evolution of a large population of planetary cores caught in planet traps accounts for the existence of three distinct exoplanetary populations—the hot Jupiters, the more massive planets around r = 1 AU, and the short-period super-Earths and hot Neptunes. There are very few populations that feed into the large orbital radii characteristic of the imaged Jovian planet, which agrees with recent surveys. Finally, we find that low-mass planets in tight orbits become the dominant planetary population for low-mass stars (M * ≤ 0.7 M ☉ ).

The Gemini Planet Imager Exoplanet Survey

Science.gov (United States)

Macintosh, Bruce

The Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) is a next-generation coronagraph constructed for the Gemini Observatory. GPI will see first light this fall. It will be the most advanced planet-imaging system in operation - an order of magnitude more sensitive than any current instrument, capable of detecting and spectroscopically characterizing young Jovian planets 107 times fainter than their parent star at separations of 0.2 arcseconds. GPI was built from the beginning as a facility-class survey instrument, and the observatory will employ it that way. Our team has been selected by Gemini Observatory to carry out an 890-hour program - the GPI Exoplanet Survey (GPIES) campaign from 2014-2017. We will observe 600 stars spanning spectral types A-M. We will use published young association catalogs and a proprietary list in preparation that adds several hundred new young (pc) and adolescent (pc) stars. The range of separations studied by GPI is completely inaccessible to Doppler and transit techniques (even with Kepler or TESS)— GPI offers a new window into planet formation. We will use GPI to produce the first-ever robust census of giant planet populations in the 5-50 AU range, allowing us to: 1) illuminate the formation pathways of Jovian planets; 2) reconstruct the early dynamical evolution of systems, including migration mechanisms and the interaction with disks and belts of debris; and 3) bridge the gap between Jupiter and the brown dwarfs with the first examples of cool low- gravity planetary atmospheres. Simulations predict this survey will discover approximately 50 exoplanets, increasing the number of exoplanet images by an order of magnitude, enough for statistical investigation. This Origins of Solar Systems proposal will support the execution of the GPI Exoplanet Survey campaign. We will develop tools needed to execute the survey efficiently. We will refine the existing GPI data pipeline to a final version that robustly removes residual speckle artifacts and provides

Spectroscopic follow up of Kepler planet candidates

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Latham..[], D. W.; Cochran, W. D.; Marcy, G.W.

2010-01-01

Spectroscopic follow-up observations play a crucial role in the confirmation and characterization of transiting planet candidates identified by Kepler. The most challenging part of this work is the determination of radial velocities with a precision approaching 1 m/s in order to derive masses from...... spectroscopic orbits. The most precious resource for this work is HIRES on Keck I, to be joined by HARPS-North on the William Herschel Telescope when that new spectrometer comes on line in two years. Because a large fraction of the planet candidates are in fact stellar systems involving eclipsing stars...... and not planets, our strategy is to start with reconnaissance spectroscopy using smaller telescopes, to sort out and reject as many of the false positives as possible before going to Keck. During the first Kepler observing season in 2009, more than 100 nights of telescope time were allocated for this work, using...

RADII OF RAPIDLY ROTATING STARS, WITH APPLICATION TO TRANSITING-PLANET HOSTS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brown, Timothy M.

2010-01-01

The currently favored method for estimating radii and other parameters of transiting-planet host stars is to match theoretical models to observations of the stellar mean density ρ * , the effective temperature T eff , and the composition parameter [Z]. This explicitly model-dependent approach is based on readily available observations, and results in small formal errors. Its performance will be central to the reliability of results from ground-based transit surveys such as TrES, HAT, and SuperWASP, as well as to the space-borne missions MOST, CoRoT, and Kepler. Here, I use two calibration samples of stars (eclipsing binaries (EBs) and stars for which asteroseismic analyses are available) having well-determined masses and radii to estimate the accuracy and systematic errors inherent in the ρ * method. When matching to the Yonsei-Yale stellar evolution models, I find the most important systematic error results from selection bias favoring rapidly rotating (hence probably magnetically active) stars among the EB sample. If unaccounted for, this bias leads to a mass-dependent underestimate of stellar radii by as much as 4% for stars of 0.4 M sun , decreasing to zero for masses above about 1.4 M sun . Relative errors in estimated stellar masses are three times larger than those in radii. The asteroseismic sample suggests (albeit with significant uncertainty) that systematic errors are small for slowly rotating, inactive stars. Systematic errors arising from failings of the Yonsei-Yale models of inactive stars probably exist, but are difficult to assess because of the small number of well-characterized comparison stars having low mass and slow rotation. Poor information about [Z] is an important source of random error, and may be a minor source of systematic error as well. With suitable corrections for rotation, it is likely that systematic errors in the ρ * method can be comparable to or smaller than the random errors, yielding radii that are accurate to about 2% for

The early evolution of the atmospheres of terrestrial planets

CERN Document Server

Raulin, François; Muller, Christian; Nixon, Conor; Astrophysics and Space Science Proceedings : Volume 35

2013-01-01

“The Early Evolution of the Atmospheres of Terrestrial Planets” presents the main processes participating in the atmospheric evolution of terrestrial planets. A group of experts in the different fields provide an update of our current knowledge on this topic. Several papers in this book discuss the key role of nitrogen in the atmospheric evolution of terrestrial planets. The earliest setting and evolution of planetary atmospheres of terrestrial planets is directly associated with accretion, chemical differentiation, outgassing, stochastic impacts, and extremely high energy fluxes from their host stars. This book provides an overview of the present knowledge of the initial atmospheric composition of the terrestrial planets. Additionally it includes some papers about the current exoplanet discoveries and provides additional clues to our understanding of Earth’s transition from a hot accretionary phase into a habitable world. All papers included were reviewed by experts in their respective fields. We are ...

EXTRACTING PLANET MASS AND ECCENTRICITY FROM TTV DATA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lithwick, Yoram; Xie Jiwei; Wu Yanqin

2012-01-01

Most planet pairs in the Kepler data that have measured transit time variations (TTVs) are near first-order mean-motion resonances. We derive analytical formulae for their TTV signals. We separate planet eccentricity into free and forced parts, where the forced part is purely due to the planets' proximity to resonance. This separation yields simple analytical formulae. The phase of the TTV depends sensitively on the presence of free eccentricity: if the free eccentricity vanishes, the TTV will be in phase with the longitude of conjunctions. This effect is easily detectable in current TTV data. The amplitude of the TTV depends on planet mass and free eccentricity, and it determines planet mass uniquely only when the free eccentricity is sufficiently small. We analyze the TTV signals of six short-period Kepler pairs. We find that three of these pairs (Kepler 18, 24, 25) have a TTV phase consistent with zero. The other three (Kepler 23, 28, 32) have small TTV phases, but ones that are distinctly non-zero. We deduce that the free eccentricities of the planets are small, ∼< 0.01, but not always vanishing. Furthermore, as a consequence of this, we deduce that the true masses of the planets are fairly accurately determined by the TTV amplitudes, within a factor of ∼< 2. The smallness of the free eccentricities suggests that the planets have experienced substantial dissipation. This is consistent with the hypothesis that the observed pile-up of Kepler pairs near mean-motion resonances is caused by resonant repulsion. But the fact that some of the planets have non-vanishing free eccentricity suggests that after resonant repulsion occurred there was a subsequent phase in the planets' evolution when their eccentricities were modestly excited, perhaps by interplanetary interactions.

Humans Need Not Apply: Robotization of Kepler Planet Candidate Vetting

Science.gov (United States)

Coughlin, Jeffrey; Mullally, Fergal; Thompson, Susan E.; Kepler Team

2015-01-01

Until now, the vast majority of Kepler planet candidate vetting has been performed by a dedicated team of humans. While human expertise has been invaluable in understanding the nuances of Kepler data, human vetting is very time-consuming and can be inconsistent. Over 20,000 threshold crossing events have been produced by the latest pipeline run on all 17 quarters of Kepler mission data, and many more artificial planet transits have been injected to estimate completeness. Given these large numbers, human vetting is no longer feasible on a reasonable time-scale, and would be difficult to characterize. We have created automated vetting programs known as "robovetters" that are specifically designed to mimic the decision-making process employed by the humans. They analyze both the light curve and pixel-level data in order to produce specific reasons for identifying false positives. We present benchmark tests on the Q1-Q16 Kepler planet catalog, which was vetted by humans, and present preliminary robovetter results based on a recent transit-search of the newly reprocessed Q1-Q17 data set.

A Spitzer search for transits of radial velocity detected super-Earths

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kammer, J. A.; Knutson, H. A.; Desert, J.-M. [Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Howard, A. W. [Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States); Laughlin, G. P.; Fortney, J. J. [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California at Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 (United States); Deming, D. [Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland at College Park, College Park, MD 20742 (United States); Todorov, K. O. [Institute for Astronomy, ETH Zürich, CH-8093 Zürich (Switzerland); Agol, E. [Department of Astronomy, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195 (United States); Burrows, A. [Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544 (United States); Showman, A. P. [Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States); Lewis, N. K., E-mail: jkammer@caltech.edu [Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States)

2014-02-01

Unlike hot Jupiters or other gas giants, super-Earths are expected to have a wide variety of compositions, ranging from terrestrial bodies like our own to more gaseous planets like Neptune. Observations of transiting systems, which allow us to directly measure planet masses and radii and constrain atmospheric properties, are key to understanding the compositional diversity of the planets in this mass range. Although Kepler has discovered hundreds of transiting super-Earth candidates over the past 4 yr, the majority of these planets orbit stars that are too far away and too faint to allow for detailed atmospheric characterization and reliable mass estimates. Ground-based transit surveys focus on much brighter stars, but most lack the sensitivity to detect planets in this size range. One way to get around the difficulty of finding these smaller planets in transit is to start by choosing targets that are already known to host super-Earth sized bodies detected using the radial velocity (RV) technique. Here we present results from a Spitzer program to observe six of the most favorable RV-detected super-Earth systems, including HD 1461, HD 7924, HD 156668, HIP 57274, and GJ 876. We find no evidence for transits in any of their 4.5 μm flux light curves, and place limits on the allowed transit depths and corresponding planet radii that rule out even the most dense and iron-rich compositions for these objects. We also observed HD 97658, but the observation window was based on a possible ground-based transit detection that was later ruled out; thus the window did not include the predicted time for the transit detection recently made by the Microvariability and Oscillations of Stars space telescope.

Pan-Planets: Searching for hot Jupiters around cool dwarfs

Science.gov (United States)

Obermeier, C.; Koppenhoefer, J.; Saglia, R. P.; Henning, Th.; Bender, R.; Kodric, M.; Deacon, N.; Riffeser, A.; Burgett, W.; Chambers, K. C.; Draper, P. W.; Flewelling, H.; Hodapp, K. W.; Kaiser, N.; Kudritzki, R.-P.; Magnier, E. A.; Metcalfe, N.; Price, P. A.; Sweeney, W.; Wainscoat, R. J.; Waters, C.

2016-03-01

The Pan-Planets survey observed an area of 42 sq deg. in the galactic disk for about 165 h. The main scientific goal of the project is the detection of transiting planets around M dwarfs. We establish an efficient procedure for determining the stellar parameters Teff and log g of all sources using a method based on SED fitting, utilizing a three-dimensional dust map and proper motion information. In this way we identify more than 60 000 M dwarfs, which is by far the largest sample of low-mass stars observed in a transit survey to date. We present several planet candidates around M dwarfs and hotter stars that are currently being followed up. Using Monte Carlo simulations we calculate the detection efficiency of the Pan-Planets survey for different stellar and planetary populations. We expect to find 3.0+3.3-1.6 hot Jupiters around F, G, and K dwarfs with periods lower than 10 days based on the planet occurrence rates derived in previous surveys. For M dwarfs, the percentage of stars with a hot Jupiter is under debate. Theoretical models expect a lower occurrence rate than for larger main sequence stars. However, radial velocity surveys find upper limits of about 1% due to their small sample, while the Kepler survey finds a occurrence rate that we estimate to be at least 0.17b(+0.67-0.04) %, making it even higher than the determined fraction from OGLE-III for F, G and K stellar types, 0.14 (+0.15-0.076) %. With the large sample size of Pan-Planets, we are able to determine an occurrence rate of 0.11 (+0.37-0.02) % in case one of our candidates turns out to be a real detection. If, however, none of our candidates turn out to be true planets, we are able to put an upper limit of 0.34% with a 95% confidence on the hot Jupiter occurrence rate of M dwarfs. This limit is a significant improvement over previous estimates where the lowest limit published so far is 1.1% found in the WFCAM Transit Survey. Therefore we cannot yet confirm the theoretical prediction of a lower

An Earth-sized planet in the habitable zone of a cool star.

Science.gov (United States)

Quintana, Elisa V; Barclay, Thomas; Raymond, Sean N; Rowe, Jason F; Bolmont, Emeline; Caldwell, Douglas A; Howell, Steve B; Kane, Stephen R; Huber, Daniel; Crepp, Justin R; Lissauer, Jack J; Ciardi, David R; Coughlin, Jeffrey L; Everett, Mark E; Henze, Christopher E; Horch, Elliott; Isaacson, Howard; Ford, Eric B; Adams, Fred C; Still, Martin; Hunter, Roger C; Quarles, Billy; Selsis, Franck

2014-04-18

The quest for Earth-like planets is a major focus of current exoplanet research. Although planets that are Earth-sized and smaller have been detected, these planets reside in orbits that are too close to their host star to allow liquid water on their surfaces. We present the detection of Kepler-186f, a 1.11 ± 0.14 Earth-radius planet that is the outermost of five planets, all roughly Earth-sized, that transit a 0.47 ± 0.05 solar-radius star. The intensity and spectrum of the star's radiation place Kepler-186f in the stellar habitable zone, implying that if Kepler-186f has an Earth-like atmosphere and water at its surface, then some of this water is likely to be in liquid form.

Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS)

Science.gov (United States)

Ricker, G. R.; Clampin, M.; Latham, D. W.; Seager, S.; Vanderspek, R. K.; Villasenor, J. S.; Winn, J. N.

2012-01-01

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) will discover thousands of exoplanets in orbit around the brightest stars in the sky. In a two-year survey, TESS will monitor more than 500,000 stars for temporary drops in brightness caused by planetary transits. This first-ever spaceborne all-sky transit survey will identify planets ranging from Earth-sized to gas giants, around a wide range of stellar types and orbital distances. No ground-based survey can achieve this feat. A large fraction of TESS target stars will be 30-100 times brighter than those observed by Kepler satellite, and therefore TESS . planets will be far easier to characterize with follow-up observations. TESS will make it possible to study the masses, sizes, densities, orbits, and atmospheres of a large cohort of small planets, including a sample of rocky worlds in the habitable zones of their host stars. TESS will provide prime targets for observation with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), as well as other large ground-based and space-based telescopes of the future. TESS data will be released with minimal delay (no proprietary period), inviting immediate community-wide efforts to study the new planets. The TESS legacy will be a catalog of the very nearest and brightest main-sequence stars hosting transiting exoplanets, thus providing future observers with the most favorable targets for detailed investigations.

CosmoTransitions: Computing cosmological phase transition temperatures and bubble profiles with multiple fields

Science.gov (United States)

Wainwright, Carroll L.

2012-09-01

I present a numerical package (CosmoTransitions) for analyzing finite-temperature cosmological phase transitions driven by single or multiple scalar fields. The package analyzes the different vacua of a theory to determine their critical temperatures (where the vacuum energy levels are degenerate), their supercooling temperatures, and the bubble wall profiles which separate the phases and describe their tunneling dynamics. I introduce a new method of path deformation to find the profiles of both thin- and thick-walled bubbles. CosmoTransitions is freely available for public use.Program summaryProgram Title: CosmoTransitionsCatalogue identifier: AEML_v1_0Program summary URL: http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/AEML_v1_0.htmlProgram obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University, Belfast, N. IrelandLicensing provisions: Standard CPC licence, http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/licence/licence.htmlNo. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 8775No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 621096Distribution format: tar.gzProgramming language: Python.Computer: Developed on a 2009 MacBook Pro. No computer-specific optimization was performed.Operating system: Designed and tested on Mac OS X 10.6.8. Compatible with any OS with Python installed.RAM: Approximately 50 MB, mostly for loading plotting packages.Classification: 1.9, 11.1.External routines: SciPy, NumPy, matplotLibNature of problem: I describe a program to analyze early-Universe finite-temperature phase transitions with multiple scalar fields. The goal is to analyze the phase structure of an input theory, determine the amount of supercooling at each phase transition, and find the bubble-wall profiles of the nucleated bubbles that drive the transitions.Solution method: To find the bubble-wall profile, the program assumes that tunneling happens along a fixed path in field space. This reduces the equations of motion to one dimension, which can then be solved using the overshoot

Multiple magnetic transitions in SmCoAsO

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yongliang Chen

2011-12-01

Full Text Available The magnetic properties of SmCoAsO have been investigated. Our results differ from early observations. Complicated magnetism consists of antiferromagnetic, ferromagnetic, ferrimagnetic and paramagnetic, even diamagnetism at low field has been observed. A metamagnetic transition was observed, resulting from a canting of the spins. The interaction between two Co sublattices with canted-structure might take responsibility for the multiple magnetic transitions. Electrical resistivity data indicate that SmCoAsO is metallic conductor with room temperature resistivity of 0.51669 mΩ-cm. Negative magnetoresistance effect suggests a significant suppression of spin-flip scattering by the applied magnetic field. The magnetic phase diagram has been established.

THE NASA-UC ETA-EARTH PROGRAM. II. A PLANET ORBITING HD 156668 WITH A MINIMUM MASS OF FOUR EARTH MASSES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Howard, Andrew W.; Marcy, Geoffrey W.; Isaacson, Howard; Johnson, John Asher; Fischer, Debra A.; Wright, Jason T.; Henry, Gregory W.; Valenti, Jeff A.; Anderson, Jay; Piskunov, Nikolai E.

2011-01-01

We report the discovery of HD 156668 b, an extrasolar planet with a minimum mass of M P sin i = 4.15 M + . This planet was discovered through Keplerian modeling of precise radial velocities from Keck-HIRES and is the second super-Earth to emerge from the NASA-UC Eta-Earth Survey. The best-fit orbit is consistent with circular and has a period of P = 4.6455 days. The Doppler semi-amplitude of this planet, K = 1.89 m s -1 , is among the lowest ever detected, on par with the detection of GJ 581 e using HARPS. A longer period (P ∼ 2.3 years), low-amplitude signal of unknown origin was also detected in the radial velocities and was filtered out of the data while fitting the short-period planet. Additional data are required to determine if the long-period signal is due to a second planet, stellar activity, or another source. Photometric observations using the Automated Photometric Telescopes at Fairborn Observatory show that HD 156668 (an old, quiet K3 dwarf) is photometrically constant over the radial velocity period to 0.1 mmag, supporting the existence of the planet. No transits were detected down to a photometric limit of ∼3 mmag, ruling out transiting planets dominated by extremely bloated atmospheres, but not precluding a transiting solid/liquid planet with a modest atmosphere.

Too Little, Too Late: How the Tidal Evolution of Hot Jupiters Affects Transit Surveys of Clusters

Science.gov (United States)

Debes, John H.; Jackson, Brian

2010-01-01

The tidal evolution of hot Jupiters may change the efficiency of transit surveys of stellar clusters. The orbital decay that hot Jupiters suffer may result in their destruction, leaving fewer transiting planets in older clusters. We calculate the impact tidal evolution has for different assumed stellar populations, including that of 47 Tuc, a globular cluster that was the focus of an intense HST search for transits. We find that in older clusters one expects to detect fewer transiting planets by a factor of two for surveys sensitive to Jupiter-like planets in orbits out to 0.5 AU, and up to a factor of 25 for surveys sensitive to Jupiter-like planets in orbits out to 0.08 AU. Additionally, tidal evolution affects the distribution of transiting planets as a function of semi-major axis, producing larger orbital period gaps for transiting planets as the age of the cluster increases. Tidal evolution can explain the lack of detected exoplanets in 47 Tuc without invoking other mechanisms. Four open clusters residing within the Kepler fields of view have ages that span 0.4-8 Gyr-if Kepler can observe a significant number of planets in these clusters, it will provide key tests for our tidal evolution hypothesis. Finally, our results suggest that observers wishing to discover transiting planets in clusters must have sufficient accuracy to detect lower mass planets, search larger numbers of cluster members, or have longer observation windows to be confident that a significant number of transits will occur for a population of stars.

Planetary Candidates Observed by Kepler IV: Planet Sample from Q1-Q8 (22 Months)

OpenAIRE

Burke, Christopher J.; Christensen, Jessie L.; Ciardi, David R.; Morton, Timothy D.; Shporer, Avi

2014-01-01

We provide updates to the Kepler planet candidate sample based upon nearly two years of high-precision photometry (i.e., Q1-Q8). From an initial list of nearly 13,400 threshold crossing events, 480 new host stars are identified from their flux time series as consistent with hosting transiting planets. Potential transit signals are subjected to further analysis using the pixel-level data, which allows background eclipsing binaries to be identified through small image position shifts during tra...

Detection of rotation in a binary microlens : PLANET photometry of MACHO 97-BLG-41

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Albrow, MD; Beaulieu, JP; Caldwell, JAR; Dominik, M; Gaudi, BS; Gould, A; Greenhill, J; Hill, K; Kane, S; Martin, R; Menzies, J; Pollard, KR; Sackett, PD; Sahu, KC; Vermaak, P; Watson, R; Williams, A; Bond, HE; van Bemmel, IM

2000-01-01

We analyze PLANET collaboration data for MACHO 97-BLG-41, the only microlensing event observed to date in which the source transits two disjoint caustics. The PLANET data, consisting of 46 V-band and 325 I-band observations from five southern observatories, span a period from the initial alert until

Single or multiple synchronization transitions in scale-free neuronal networks with electrical or chemical coupling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hao Yinghang; Gong, Yubing; Wang Li; Ma Xiaoguang; Yang Chuanlu

2011-01-01

Research highlights: → Single synchronization transition for gap-junctional coupling. → Multiple synchronization transitions for chemical synaptic coupling. → Gap junctions and chemical synapses have different impacts on synchronization transition. → Chemical synapses may play a dominant role in neurons' information processing. - Abstract: In this paper, we have studied time delay- and coupling strength-induced synchronization transitions in scale-free modified Hodgkin-Huxley (MHH) neuron networks with gap-junctions and chemical synaptic coupling. It is shown that the synchronization transitions are much different for these two coupling types. For gap-junctions, the neurons exhibit a single synchronization transition with time delay and coupling strength, while for chemical synapses, there are multiple synchronization transitions with time delay, and the synchronization transition with coupling strength is dependent on the time delay lengths. For short delays we observe a single synchronization transition, whereas for long delays the neurons exhibit multiple synchronization transitions as the coupling strength is varied. These results show that gap junctions and chemical synapses have different impacts on the pattern formation and synchronization transitions of the scale-free MHH neuronal networks, and chemical synapses, compared to gap junctions, may play a dominant and more active function in the firing activity of the networks. These findings would be helpful for further understanding the roles of gap junctions and chemical synapses in the firing dynamics of neuronal networks.

Single or multiple synchronization transitions in scale-free neuronal networks with electrical or chemical coupling

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hao Yinghang [School of Physics, Ludong University, Yantai 264025 (China); Gong, Yubing, E-mail: gongyubing09@hotmail.co [School of Physics, Ludong University, Yantai 264025 (China); Wang Li; Ma Xiaoguang; Yang Chuanlu [School of Physics, Ludong University, Yantai 264025 (China)

2011-04-15

Research highlights: Single synchronization transition for gap-junctional coupling. Multiple synchronization transitions for chemical synaptic coupling. Gap junctions and chemical synapses have different impacts on synchronization transition. Chemical synapses may play a dominant role in neurons' information processing. - Abstract: In this paper, we have studied time delay- and coupling strength-induced synchronization transitions in scale-free modified Hodgkin-Huxley (MHH) neuron networks with gap-junctions and chemical synaptic coupling. It is shown that the synchronization transitions are much different for these two coupling types. For gap-junctions, the neurons exhibit a single synchronization transition with time delay and coupling strength, while for chemical synapses, there are multiple synchronization transitions with time delay, and the synchronization transition with coupling strength is dependent on the time delay lengths. For short delays we observe a single synchronization transition, whereas for long delays the neurons exhibit multiple synchronization transitions as the coupling strength is varied. These results show that gap junctions and chemical synapses have different impacts on the pattern formation and synchronization transitions of the scale-free MHH neuronal networks, and chemical synapses, compared to gap junctions, may play a dominant and more active function in the firing activity of the networks. These findings would be helpful for further understanding the roles of gap junctions and chemical synapses in the firing dynamics of neuronal networks.

Lyman-alpha transit observations of the warm rocky exoplanet GJ1132b

Science.gov (United States)

Waalkes, William; Berta-Thompson, Zachory K.; Charbonneau, David; Irwin, Jonathan; Newton, Elisabeth; Dittmann, Jason; Bourrier, Vincent; Ehrenreich, David; Kempton, Eliza; Will

2018-06-01

GJ1132b is one of the few known Earth-sized planets, and at 12pc away it is also one of the closest known transiting planets. With an equilibrium temperature of 500 K, this planet is too hot to be habitable but we can use it to learn about the presence and volatile content of rocky planet atmospheres around M dwarf stars. Using Hubble STIS spectra obtained during primary transit, we search for a Lyman-α transit. If we were to observe a deep Lyman-α transit, that would indicate the presence of a neutral hydrogen envelope flowing from GJ1132b. On the other hand, ruling out deep absorption from neutral hydrogen may indicate that this planet has either retained its volatiles or lost them very early in the star’s life. We carry out this analysis by extracting 1D spectra from the STIS pipeline, splitting the time-tagged spectra into higher resolution samples, and producing light curves of the red and blue wings of the Lyman-α line. We fit for the baseline stellar flux and transit depths in order to constrain the characteristics of the cloud of neutral hydrogen gas that may surround the planet. We do not conclusively detect a transit but the results provide an upper limit for the transit depth. We also analyze the stellar variability and Lyman-α spectrum of GJ1132, a slowly-rotating 0.18 solar mass M dwarf with previously uncharacterized UV activity. Understanding the role that UV variability plays in planetary atmospheres and volatile retention is crucial to assess atmospheric evolution and the habitability of cooler rocky planets.

Selections from 2017: Atmosphere Around an Earth-Like Planet

Science.gov (United States)

Kohler, Susanna

2017-12-01

Editors note:In these last two weeks of 2017, well be looking at a few selections that we havent yet discussed on AAS Nova from among the most-downloaded paperspublished in AAS journals this year. The usual posting schedule will resume in January.Detection of the Atmosphere of the 1.6 M Exoplanet GJ 1132 bPublished March2017Main takeaway:An atmosphere was detected around the roughly Earth-size exoplanet GJ 1132 b using a telescope at the European Southern Observatory in Chile. A team of scientists led byJohn Southworth (Keele University) found features indicating the presence of an atmosphere in theobservationsof this 1.6-Earth-mass planet as it transits an M-dwarf host star. This is the lowest-mass planet with a detected atmosphere thus far.Why its interesting:M dwarfs are among the most common stars in our galaxy, and weve found manyEarth-sizeexoplanets in or near the habitable zones around M-dwarf hosts. But M dwarfs are also more magnetically active than stars like our Sun, suggesting that the planets in M-dwarfhabitable zones may not be able to support life due to stellar activity eroding their atmospheres. The detection of an atmosphere around GJ 1132 b suggests that some planets orbiting M dwarfsare able to retain their atmospheres which meansthat these planetsmay be an interesting place to search for life after all.How the atmosphere was detected:The measured planetary radius for GJ 1132 b as a function of the wavelength used to observe it. [Southworth et al. 2017]When measuring the radius of GJ 1132 b based on its transits, the authors noticed that the planet appeared to be largerwhen observed in some wavelengths than in others. This can beexplained if the planet has asurface radius of 1.4 Earth radii, overlaid by an atmosphere that extends out another few tenths of an Earth radius. The atmosphere, which may consist of water vapor or methane, is transparent to some wavelengths and absorbs others which is why the apparent size of the planet changes

TRANSITING THE SUN. II. THE IMPACT OF STELLAR ACTIVITY ON Lyα TRANSITS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Llama, J.; Shkolnik, E. L.

2016-01-01

High-energy observations of the Sun provide an opportunity to test the limits of our ability to accurately measure the properties of transiting exoplanets in the presence of stellar activity. Here we insert the transit of a hot Jupiter into continuous disk integrated data of the Sun in Lyα from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory/EVE instrument to assess the impact of stellar activity on the measured planet-to-star radius ratio (R p /R ⋆ ). In 75% of our simulated light curves, we measure the correct radius ratio; however, incorrect values can be measured if there is significant short-term variability in the light curve. The maximum measured value of R p /R ⋆ is 50% larger than the input value, which is much smaller than the large Lyα transit depths that have been reported in the literature, suggesting that for stars with activity levels comparable to the Sun, stellar activity alone cannot account for these deep transits. We ran simulations without a transit and found that stellar activity cannot mimic the Lyα transit of 55 Cancari b, strengthening the conclusion that this planet has a partially transiting exopshere. We were able to compare our simulations to more active stars by artificially increasing the variability in the Solar Lyα light curve. In the higher variability data, the largest value of R p /R ⋆ we measured is <3× the input value, which again is not large enough to reproduce the Lyα transit depth reported for the more active stars HD 189733 and GJ 436, supporting the interpretation that these planets have extended atmospheres and possible cometary tails

M2K. II. A TRIPLE-PLANET SYSTEM ORBITING HIP 57274

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Fischer, Debra A.; Giguere, Matthew J.; Moriarty, John; Brewer, John; Spronck, Julien F. P.; Schwab, Christian; Szymkowiak, Andrew [Department of Astronomy, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511 (United States); Gaidos, Eric [Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States); Howard, Andrew W.; Marcy, Geoffrey W. [Department of Astronomy, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Johnson, John A. [Department of Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Wright, Jason T. [Center for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds, 525 Davey Lab, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16803 (United States); Valenti, Jeff A. [Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States); Piskunov, Nikolai [Department of Astronomy and Space Physics, Uppsala University, Box 515, 751 20 Uppsala (Sweden); Clubb, Kelsey I.; Isaacson, Howard [Pufendorf Institute for Advanced Studies, Lund University, Lund (Sweden); Apps, Kevin [75B Cheyne Walk, Surrey RH6 7LR (United Kingdom); Lepine, Sebastien [American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10023 (United States); Mann, Andrew, E-mail: debra.fischer@yale.edu [Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States)

2012-01-20

Doppler observations from Keck Observatory have revealed a triple-planet system orbiting the nearby K4V star, HIP 57274. The inner planet, HIP 57274b, is a super-Earth with Msin i = 11.6 M{sub Circled-Plus} (0.036 M{sub Jup}), an orbital period of 8.135 {+-} 0.004 days, and slightly eccentric orbit e = 0.19 {+-} 0.1. We calculate a transit probability of 6.5% for the inner planet. The second planet has Msin i = 0.4 M{sub Jup} with an orbital period of 32.0 {+-} 0.02 days in a nearly circular orbit (e = 0.05 {+-} 0.03). The third planet has Msin i = 0.53 M{sub Jup} with an orbital period of 432 {+-} 8 days (1.18 years) and an eccentricity e = 0.23 {+-} 0.03. This discovery adds to the number of super-Earth mass planets with M sin i < 12 M{sub Circled-Plus} that have been detected with Doppler surveys. We find that 56% {+-} 18% of super-Earths are members of multi-planet systems. This is certainly a lower limit because of observational detectability limits, yet significantly higher than the fraction of Jupiter mass exoplanets, 20% {+-} 8%, that are members of Doppler-detected, multi-planet systems.

M2K. II. A TRIPLE-PLANET SYSTEM ORBITING HIP 57274

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fischer, Debra A.; Giguere, Matthew J.; Moriarty, John; Brewer, John; Spronck, Julien F. P.; Schwab, Christian; Szymkowiak, Andrew; Gaidos, Eric; Howard, Andrew W.; Marcy, Geoffrey W.; Johnson, John A.; Wright, Jason T.; Valenti, Jeff A.; Piskunov, Nikolai; Clubb, Kelsey I.; Isaacson, Howard; Apps, Kevin; Lepine, Sebastien; Mann, Andrew

2012-01-01

Doppler observations from Keck Observatory have revealed a triple-planet system orbiting the nearby K4V star, HIP 57274. The inner planet, HIP 57274b, is a super-Earth with Msin i = 11.6 M ⊕ (0.036 M Jup ), an orbital period of 8.135 ± 0.004 days, and slightly eccentric orbit e = 0.19 ± 0.1. We calculate a transit probability of 6.5% for the inner planet. The second planet has Msin i = 0.4 M Jup with an orbital period of 32.0 ± 0.02 days in a nearly circular orbit (e = 0.05 ± 0.03). The third planet has Msin i = 0.53 M Jup with an orbital period of 432 ± 8 days (1.18 years) and an eccentricity e = 0.23 ± 0.03. This discovery adds to the number of super-Earth mass planets with M sin i ⊕ that have been detected with Doppler surveys. We find that 56% ± 18% of super-Earths are members of multi-planet systems. This is certainly a lower limit because of observational detectability limits, yet significantly higher than the fraction of Jupiter mass exoplanets, 20% ± 8%, that are members of Doppler-detected, multi-planet systems.

Transit confirmation and improved stellar and planet parameters for the super-Earth HD 97658 b and its host star

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Van Grootel, V.; Gillon, M.; Scuflaire, R. [Institut d' Astrophysique et de Géophysique, Université de Liège, 17 Allée du 6 Août, B-4000 Liège (Belgium); Valencia, D. [Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, University of Toronto, 1265 Military Trail, Toronto, ON, M1C 1A4 (Canada); Madhusudhan, N.; Demory, B.-O.; Queloz, D. [Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA (United Kingdom); Dragomir, D. [Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network, 6740 Cortona Dr. Suite 102, Goleta, CA 93117 (United States); Howe, A. R.; Burrows, A. S. [Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544 (United States); Deming, D. [Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-2421 (United States); Ehrenreich, D.; Lovis, C.; Mayor, M.; Pepe, F.; Segransan, D.; Udry, S. [Observatoire de Genève, Université de Genève, 51 Chemin des Maillettes, CH-1290 Sauverny (Switzerland); Seager, S., E-mail: valerie.vangrootel@ulg.ac.be [Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States)

2014-05-01

Super-Earths transiting nearby bright stars are key objects that simultaneously allow for accurate measurements of both their mass and radius, providing essential constraints on their internal composition. We present here the confirmation, based on Spitzer transit observations, that the super-Earth HD 97658 b transits its host star. HD 97658 is a low-mass (M {sub *} = 0.77 ± 0.05 M {sub ☉}) K1 dwarf, as determined from the Hipparcos parallax and stellar evolution modeling. To constrain the planet parameters, we carry out Bayesian global analyses of Keck-High Resolution Echelle Spectrometer (Keck-HIRES) radial velocities and Microvariability and Oscillations of STars (MOST) and Spitzer photometry. HD 97658 b is a massive (M{sub P}=7.55{sub −0.79}{sup +0.83} M{sub ⊕}) and large (R{sub P}=2.247{sub −0.095}{sup +0.098}R{sub ⊕} at 4.5 μm) super-Earth. We investigate the possible internal compositions for HD 97658 b. Our results indicate a large rocky component, of at least 60% by mass, and very little H-He components, at most 2% by mass. We also discuss how future asteroseismic observations can improve the knowledge of the HD 97658 system, in particular by constraining its age. Orbiting a bright host star, HD 97658 b will be a key target for upcoming space missions such as the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), the Characterizing Exoplanet Satellite (CHEOPS), the Planetary Transits and Oscillations of stars (PLATO), and the James Webb Space Telescope to characterize thoroughly its structure and atmosphere.

Kepler Mission: A Wide-FOV Photometer Designed to Determine the Frequency of Earth-Size and Larger Planets Around Solar-like stars

Science.gov (United States)

Borucki, William; Koch, David; Lissauer, Jack; Basri, Gibor; Caldwell, John; Cochran, William; Dunham, Edward W.; Gilliland, Ronald; Jenkins, Jon M.; Caldwell, Douglas;

Young planets under extreme UV irradiation. I. Upper atmosphere modelling of the young exoplanet K2-33b

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Kubyshkina, D.; Lendl, M.; Fossati, L.; Cubillos, P. E.; Lammer, H.; Erkaev, N. V.; Johnstone, C. P.

2018-04-01

The K2-33 planetary system hosts one transiting 5 R⊕ planet orbiting the young M-type host star. The planet's mass is still unknown, with an estimated upper limit of 5.4 MJ. The extreme youth of the system (age of the system indicates that the planet is more massive than 10 M⊕.

K2-106, a system containing a metal-rich planet and a planet of lower density

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Guenther, E. W.; Barragán, O.; Dai, F.; Gandolfi, D.; Hirano, T.; Fridlund, M.; Fossati, L.; Chau, A.; Helled, R.; Korth, J.; Prieto-Arranz, J.; Nespral, D.; Antoniciello, G.; Deeg, H.; Hjorth, M.; Grziwa, S.; Albrecht, S.; Hatzes, A. P.; Rauer, H.; Csizmadia, Sz.; Smith, A. M. S.; Cabrera, J.; Narita, N.; Arriagada, P.; Burt, J.; Butler, R. P.; Cochran, W. D.; Crane, J. D.; Eigmüller, Ph.; Erikson, A.; Johnson, J. A.; Kiilerich, A.; Kubyshkina, D.; Palle, E.; Persson, C. M.; Pätzold, M.; Sabotta, S.; Sato, B.; Shectman, St. A.; Teske, J. K.; Thompson, I. B.; Van Eylen, V.; Nowak, G.; Vanderburg, A.; Winn, J. N.; Wittenmyer, R. A.

2017-12-01

Aims: Planets in the mass range from 2 to 15 M⊕ are very diverse. Some of them have low densities, while others are very dense. By measuring the masses and radii, the mean densities, structure, and composition of the planets are constrained. These parameters also give us important information about their formation and evolution, and about possible processes for atmospheric loss. Methods: We determined the masses, radii, and mean densities for the two transiting planets orbiting K2-106. The inner planet has an ultra-short period of 0.57 days. The period of the outer planet is 13.3 days. Results: Although the two planets have similar masses, their densities are very different. For K2-106b we derive Mb=8.36-0.94+0.96 M⊕, Rb = 1.52 ± 0.16 R⊕, and a high density of 13.1-3.6+5.4 g cm-3. For K2-106c, we find Mc=5.8-3.0+3.3 M⊕, Rc=2.50-0.26+0.27 R⊕ and a relatively low density of 2.0-1.1+1.6 g cm-3. Conclusions: Since the system contains two planets of almost the same mass, but different distances from the host star, it is an excellent laboratory to study atmospheric escape. In agreement with the theory of atmospheric-loss processes, it is likely that the outer planet has a hydrogen-dominated atmosphere. The mass and radius of the inner planet is in agreement with theoretical models predicting an iron core containing 80-30+20% of its mass. Such a high metal content is surprising, particularly given that the star has an ordinary (solar) metal abundance. We discuss various possible formation scenarios for this unusual planet. The results are partly based on observations obtained at the European Southern Observatory at Paranal, Chile in program 098.C-0860(A). This paper includes data gathered with the 6.5 m Magellan Telescopes located at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile. The article is also partly based on observations with the TNG, NOT. This work has also made use of data from the European Space Agency (ESA) mission Gaia (http

Methodology for the AutoRegressive Planet Search (ARPS) Project

Science.gov (United States)

Feigelson, Eric; Caceres, Gabriel; ARPS Collaboration

2018-01-01

The detection of periodic signals of transiting exoplanets is often impeded by the presence of aperiodic photometric variations. This variability is intrinsic to the host star in space-based observations (typically arising from magnetic activity) and from observational conditions in ground-based observations. The most common statistical procedures to remove stellar variations are nonparametric, such as wavelet decomposition or Gaussian Processes regression. However, many stars display variability with autoregressive properties, wherein later flux values are correlated with previous ones. Providing the time series is evenly spaced, parametric autoregressive models can prove very effective. Here we present the methodology of the Autoregessive Planet Search (ARPS) project which uses Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) models to treat a wide variety of stochastic short-memory processes, as well as nonstationarity. Additionally, we introduce a planet-search algorithm to detect periodic transits in the time-series residuals after application of ARIMA models. Our matched-filter algorithm, the Transit Comb Filter (TCF), replaces the traditional box-fitting step. We construct a periodogram based on the TCF to concentrate the signal of these periodic spikes. Various features of the original light curves, the ARIMA fits, the TCF periodograms, and folded light curves at peaks of the TCF periodogram can then be collected to provide constraints for planet detection. These features provide input into a multivariate classifier when a training set is available. The ARPS procedure has been applied NASA's Kepler mission observations of ~200,000 stars (Caceres, Dissertation Talk, this meeting) and will be applied in the future to other datasets.

Engaging Undergraduate Students in Transiting Exoplanet Research with Small Telescopes

Science.gov (United States)

Stephens, Denise C.; Stoker, E.; Gaillard, C.; Ranquist, E.; Lara, P.; Wright, K.

2013-10-01

Brigham Young University has a relatively large undergraduate physics program with 300 to 360 physics majors. Each of these students is required to be engaged in a research group and to produce a senior thesis before graduating. For the astronomy professors, this means that each of us is mentoring at least 4-6 undergraduate students at any given time. For the past few years I have been searching for meaningful research projects that make use of our telescope resources and are exciting for both myself and my students. We first started following up Kepler Objects of Interest with our 0.9 meter telescope, but quickly realized that most of the transits we could observe were better analyzed with Kepler data and were false positive objects. So now we have joined a team that is searching for transiting planets, and my students are using our 16" telescope to do ground based follow-up on the hundreds of possible transiting planet candidates produced by this survey. In this presentation I will describe our current telescopes, the observational setup, and how we use our telescopes to search for transiting planets. I'll describe some of the software the students have written. I'll also explain how to use the NASA Exoplanet Archive to gather data on known transiting planets and Kepler Objects of Interests. These databases are useful for determining the observational limits of your small telescopes and teaching your students how to reduce and report data on transiting planets. Once that is in place, you are potentially ready to join existing transiting planet missions by doing ground-based follow-up. I will explain how easy it can be to implement this type of research at any high school, college, or university with a small telescope and CCD camera.

Kepler Mission: a Discovery-Class Mission Designed to Determine the Frequency of Earth-Size and Larger Planets Around Solar-Like Stars

Science.gov (United States)

Borucki, William; Koch, David; Lissauer, Jack; Basri, Gibor; Caldwell, John; Cochran, William; Dunham, Edward W.; Gilliland, Ronald; Caldwell, Douglas; Kondo, Yoji;

The SOPHIE search for northern extrasolar planets. X. Detection and characterization of giant planets by the dozen

Science.gov (United States)

Hébrard, G.; Arnold, L.; Forveille, T.; Correia, A. C. M.; Laskar, J.; Bonfils, X.; Boisse, I.; Díaz, R. F.; Hagelberg, J.; Sahlmann, J.; Santos, N. C.; Astudillo-Defru, N.; Borgniet, S.; Bouchy, F.; Bourrier, V.; Courcol, B.; Delfosse, X.; Deleuil, M.; Demangeon, O.; Ehrenreich, D.; Gregorio, J.; Jovanovic, N.; Labrevoir, O.; Lagrange, A.-M.; Lovis, C.; Lozi, J.; Moutou, C.; Montagnier, G.; Pepe, F.; Rey, J.; Santerne, A.; Ségransan, D.; Udry, S.; Vanhuysse, M.; Vigan, A.; Wilson, P. A.

2016-04-01

We present new radial velocity measurements of eight stars that were secured with the spectrograph SOPHIE at the 193 cm telescope of the Haute-Provence Observatory. The measurements allow detecting and characterizing new giant extrasolar planets. The host stars are dwarfs of spectral types between F5 and K0 and magnitudes of between 6.7 and 9.6; the planets have minimum masses Mp sin I of between 0.4 to 3.8 MJup and orbitalperiods of several days to several months. The data allow only single planets to be discovered around the first six stars (HD 143105, HIP 109600, HD 35759, HIP 109384, HD 220842, and HD 12484), but one of them shows the signature of an additional substellar companion in the system. The seventh star, HIP 65407, allows the discovery of two giant planets that orbit just outside the 12:5 resonance in weak mutual interaction. The last star, HD 141399, was already known to host a four-planet system; our additional data and analyses allow new constraints to be set on it. We present Keplerian orbits of all systems, together with dynamical analyses of the two multi-planet systems. HD 143105 is one of the brightest stars known to host a hot Jupiter, which could allow numerous follow-up studies to be conducted even though this is not a transiting system. The giant planets HIP 109600b, HIP 109384b, and HD 141399c are located in the habitable zone of their host star. Based on observations collected with the SOPHIE spectrograph on the 1.93-m telescope at Observatoire de Haute-Provence (CNRS), France, by the SOPHIE Consortium (programs 07A.PNP.CONS to 15A.PNP.CONS).Full version of the SOPHIE measurements (Table 1) is only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (ftp://130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/588/A145

One or more bound planets per Milky Way star from microlensing observations.

Science.gov (United States)

Cassan, A; Kubas, D; Beaulieu, J-P; Dominik, M; Horne, K; Greenhill, J; Wambsganss, J; Menzies, J; Williams, A; Jørgensen, U G; Udalski, A; Bennett, D P; Albrow, M D; Batista, V; Brillant, S; Caldwell, J A R; Cole, A; Coutures, Ch; Cook, K H; Dieters, S; Prester, D Dominis; Donatowicz, J; Fouqué, P; Hill, K; Kains, N; Kane, S; Marquette, J-B; Martin, R; Pollard, K R; Sahu, K C; Vinter, C; Warren, D; Watson, B; Zub, M; Sumi, T; Szymański, M K; Kubiak, M; Poleski, R; Soszynski, I; Ulaczyk, K; Pietrzyński, G; Wyrzykowski, L

2012-01-11

Most known extrasolar planets (exoplanets) have been discovered using the radial velocity or transit methods. Both are biased towards planets that are relatively close to their parent stars, and studies find that around 17-30% (refs 4, 5) of solar-like stars host a planet. Gravitational microlensing, on the other hand, probes planets that are further away from their stars. Recently, a population of planets that are unbound or very far from their stars was discovered by microlensing. These planets are at least as numerous as the stars in the Milky Way. Here we report a statistical analysis of microlensing data (gathered in 2002-07) that reveals the fraction of bound planets 0.5-10 AU (Sun-Earth distance) from their stars. We find that 17(+6)(-9)% of stars host Jupiter-mass planets (0.3-10 M(J), where M(J) = 318 M(⊕) and M(⊕) is Earth's mass). Cool Neptunes (10-30 M(⊕)) and super-Earths (5-10 M(⊕)) are even more common: their respective abundances per star are 52(+22)(-29)% and 62(+35)(-37)%. We conclude that stars are orbited by planets as a rule, rather than the exception.

The same frequency of planets inside and outside open clusters of stars.

Science.gov (United States)

Meibom, Søren; Torres, Guillermo; Fressin, Francois; Latham, David W; Rowe, Jason F; Ciardi, David R; Bryson, Steven T; Rogers, Leslie A; Henze, Christopher E; Janes, Kenneth; Barnes, Sydney A; Marcy, Geoffrey W; Isaacson, Howard; Fischer, Debra A; Howell, Steve B; Horch, Elliott P; Jenkins, Jon M; Schuler, Simon C; Crepp, Justin

2013-07-04

Most stars and their planets form in open clusters. Over 95 per cent of such clusters have stellar densities too low (less than a hundred stars per cubic parsec) to withstand internal and external dynamical stresses and fall apart within a few hundred million years. Older open clusters have survived by virtue of being richer and denser in stars (1,000 to 10,000 per cubic parsec) when they formed. Such clusters represent a stellar environment very different from the birthplace of the Sun and other planet-hosting field stars. So far more than 800 planets have been found around Sun-like stars in the field. The field planets are usually the size of Neptune or smaller. In contrast, only four planets have been found orbiting stars in open clusters, all with masses similar to or greater than that of Jupiter. Here we report observations of the transits of two Sun-like stars by planets smaller than Neptune in the billion-year-old open cluster NGC6811. This demonstrates that small planets can form and survive in a dense cluster environment, and implies that the frequency and properties of planets in open clusters are consistent with those of planets around field stars in the Galaxy.

TRANSIT OF EXOMOON PLASMA TORI: NEW DIAGNOSIS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ben-Jaffel, Lotfi [UPMC, University of Paris 06, UMR 7095, Institut d' Astrophysique de Paris, F-75014 Paris (France); Ballester, Gilda E., E-mail: bjaffel@iap.fr, E-mail: gilda@pirl.lpl.arizona.edu [Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, 1541 E. University Blvd, Tucson, AZ 85721-0063 (United States)

2014-04-20

In the solar system, moons largely exceed planets in number. The Kepler database has been shown to be sensitive to exomoon detection down to the mass of Mars, but the first search has been unsuccessful. Here, we use a particles-in-cell code to predict the transit of the plasma torus produced by a satellite. Despite the small size of a moon, the spatial extent of its plasma torus can be large enough to produce substantial transit absorptions. The model is used for the interpretation of Hubble Space Telescope early ingress absorptions apparently observed during the WASP-12 b and HD 189733 b UV transits for which no consistent explanation exists. For HD 189733 b an exomoon transiting ∼16 R{sub p} ahead of the planet and loading ∼10{sup 29} C II ions s{sup –1} into space is required to explain the tentative early ingress absorption observed for C II. For WASP-12b, a moon transiting ∼6 R{sub p} ahead from the planet and ejecting ∼10{sup 28} Mg II ions per second is required to explain the NUV early ingress absorption feature. Interestingly, both HD 189733 b and WASP-12b predicted satellites are outside the Hill sphere of their planets, an indication that the moons, if present, were not formed in situ but probably captured later. Finally, our simulations show a strong electromagnetic coupling between the polar regions of planets and the orbital position of the moons, an expected outcome of the unipolar induction DC circuit model. Future observations should test our predictions with a potential opportunity to unambiguously detect the first exomoon plasma torus.

Kepler Planet Detection Metrics: Per-Target Detection Contours for Data Release 25

Science.gov (United States)

Burke, Christopher J.; Catanzarite, Joseph

2017-01-01

A necessary input to planet occurrence calculations is an accurate model for the pipeline completeness (Burke et al., 2015). This document describes the use of the Kepler planet occurrence rate products in order to calculate a per-target detection contour for the measured Data Release 25 (DR25) pipeline performance. A per-target detection contour measures for a given combination of orbital period, Porb, and planet radius, Rp, what fraction of transit signals are recoverable by the Kepler pipeline (Twicken et al., 2016; Jenkins et al., 2017). The steps for calculating a detection contour follow the procedure outlined in Burke et al. (2015), but have been updated to provide improved accuracy enabled by the substantially larger database of transit injection and recovery tests that were performed on the final version (i.e., SOC 9.3) of the Kepler pipeline (Christiansen, 2017; Burke Catanzarite, 2017a). In the following sections, we describe the main inputs to the per-target detection contour and provide a worked example of the python software released with this document (Kepler Planet Occurrence Rate Tools KeplerPORTs)1 that illustrates the generation of a detection contour in practice. As background material for this document and its nomenclature, we recommend the reader be familiar with the previous method of calculating a detection contour (Section 2 of Burke et al.,2015), input parameters relevant for describing the data quantity and quality of Kepler targets (Burke Catanzarite, 2017b), and the extensive new transit injection and recovery tests of the Kepler pipeline (Christiansen et al., 2016; Burke Catanzarite, 2017a; Christiansen, 2017).

Planet-driven Spiral Arms in Protoplanetary Disks. II. Implications

Science.gov (United States)

Bae, Jaehan; Zhu, Zhaohuan

2018-06-01

We examine whether various characteristics of planet-driven spiral arms can be used to constrain the masses of unseen planets and their positions within their disks. By carrying out two-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations varying planet mass and disk gas temperature, we find that a larger number of spiral arms form with a smaller planet mass and a lower disk temperature. A planet excites two or more spiral arms interior to its orbit for a range of disk temperatures characterized by the disk aspect ratio 0.04≤slant {(h/r)}p≤slant 0.15, whereas exterior to a planet’s orbit multiple spiral arms can form only in cold disks with {(h/r)}p≲ 0.06. Constraining the planet mass with the pitch angle of spiral arms requires accurate disk temperature measurements that might be challenging even with ALMA. However, the property that the pitch angle of planet-driven spiral arms decreases away from the planet can be a powerful diagnostic to determine whether the planet is located interior or exterior to the observed spirals. The arm-to-arm separations increase as a function of planet mass, consistent with previous studies; however, the exact slope depends on disk temperature as well as the radial location where the arm-to-arm separations are measured. We apply these diagnostics to the spiral arms seen in MWC 758 and Elias 2–27. As shown in Bae et al., planet-driven spiral arms can create concentric rings and gaps, which can produce a more dominant observable signature than spiral arms under certain circumstances. We discuss the observability of planet-driven spiral arms versus rings and gaps.

PRE-SPECTROSCOPIC FALSE-POSITIVE ELIMINATION OF KEPLER PLANET CANDIDATES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Batalha, Natalie M.; Rowe, Jason F.; Borucki, William J.; Koch, David G.; Lissauer, Jack J.; Gilliland, Ronald L.; Jenkins, Jon J.; Caldwell, Douglas; Dunham, Edward W.; Gautier, Thomas N.; Howell, Steve B.; Latham, David W.; Marcy, Geoff W.; Prsa, Andrej

2010-01-01

Ten days of commissioning data (Quarter 0) and 33 days of science data (Quarter 1) yield instrumental flux time series of ∼150,000 stars that were combed for transit events, termed threshold crossing events(TCE), each having a total detection statistic above 7.1σ. TCE light curves are modeled as star+planet systems. Those returning a companion radius smaller than 2R J are assigned a Kepler Object of Interest (KOI) number. The raw flux, pixel flux, and flux-weighted centroids of every KOI are scrutinized to assess the likelihood of being an astrophysical false positive versus the likelihood of being a planetary companion. This vetting using Kepler data is referred to as data validation (DV). Herein, we describe the DV metrics and graphics used to identify viable planet candidates amongst the KOIs. Light curve modeling tests for (1) the difference in depth of the odd- versus even-numbered transits, (2) evidence of ellipsoidal variations, and (3) evidence of a secondary eclipse event at phase = 0.5. Flux-weighted centroids are used to test for signals correlated with transit events with a magnitude and direction indicative of a background eclipsing binary. Centroid time series are complimented by analysis of images taken in-transit versus out-of-transit, the difference often revealing the pixel contributing the most to the flux change during transit. Examples are shown to illustrate each test. Candidates passing DV are submitted to ground-based observers for further false-positive elimination or confirmation/characterization.

Transiting Exoplanet Monitoring Project (TEMP). IV. Refined System Parameters, Transit Timing Variations, and Orbital Stability of the Transiting Planetary System HAT-P-25

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xian-Yu; Wang, Songhu; Hinse, Tobias C.; Li, Kai; Wang, Yong-Hao; Laughlin, Gregory; Liu, Hui-Gen; Zhang, Hui; Wu, Zhen-Yu; Zhou, Xu; Zhou, Ji-Lin; Hu, Shao-Ming; Wu, Dong-Hong; Peng, Xi-Yan; Chen, Yuan-Yuan

2018-06-01

We present eight new light curves of the transiting extra-solar planet HAT-P-25b obtained from 2013 to 2016 with three telescopes at two observatories. We use the new light curves, along with recent literature material, to estimate the physical and orbital parameters of the transiting planet. Specifically, we determine the mid-transit times (T C ) and update the linear ephemeris, T C[0] = 2456418.80996 ± 0.00025 [BJDTDB] and P = 3.65281572 ± 0.00000095 days. We carry out a search for transit timing variations (TTVs), and find no significant TTV signal at the ΔT = 80 s-level, placing a limit on the possible strength of planet–planet interactions (TTVG). In the course of our analysis, we calculate the upper mass-limits of the potential nearby perturbers. Near the 1:2, 2:1, and 3:1 resonances with HAT-P-25b, perturbers with masses greater than 0.5, 0.3, and 0.5 M ⊕ respectively, can be excluded. Furthermore, based on the analysis of TTVs caused by light travel time effect (LTTE) we also eliminate the possibility that a long-period perturber exists with M p > 3000 MJ within a = 11.2 au of the parent star.

Planetary populations in the mass-period diagram: A statistical treatment of exoplanet formation and the role of planet traps

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hasegawa, Yasuhiro [Currently EACOA Fellow at Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica (ASIAA), Taipei 10641, Taiwan. (China); Pudritz, Ralph E., E-mail: yasu@asiaa.sinica.edu.tw, E-mail: pudritz@physics.mcmaster.ca [Also at Origins Institute, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON L8S 4M1, Canada. (Canada)

2013-11-20

The rapid growth of observed exoplanets has revealed the existence of several distinct planetary populations in the mass-period diagram. Two of the most surprising are (1) the concentration of gas giants around 1 AU and (2) the accumulation of a large number of low-mass planets with tight orbits, also known as super-Earths and hot Neptunes. We have recently shown that protoplanetary disks have multiple planet traps that are characterized by orbital radii in the disks and halt rapid type I planetary migration. By coupling planet traps with the standard core accretion scenario, we showed that one can account for the positions of planets in the mass-period diagram. In this paper, we demonstrate quantitatively that most gas giants formed at planet traps tend to end up around 1 AU, with most of these being contributed by dead zones and ice lines. We also show that a large fraction of super-Earths and hot Neptunes are formed as 'failed' cores of gas giants—this population being constituted by comparable contributions from dead zone and heat transition traps. Our results are based on the evolution of forming planets in an ensemble of disks where we vary only the lifetimes of disks and their mass accretion rates onto the host star. We show that a statistical treatment of the evolution of a large population of planetary cores caught in planet traps accounts for the existence of three distinct exoplanetary populations—the hot Jupiters, the more massive planets around r = 1 AU, and the short-period super-Earths and hot Neptunes. There are very few populations that feed into the large orbital radii characteristic of the imaged Jovian planet, which agrees with recent surveys. Finally, we find that low-mass planets in tight orbits become the dominant planetary population for low-mass stars (M {sub *} ≤ 0.7 M {sub ☉}).

Three Transits for the Price of One: Super-Earth Transits of the Nearest Planetary System Discovered By Kepler/K2

Science.gov (United States)

Redfield, Seth; Niraula, Prajwal; Hedges, Christina; Crossfield, Ian; Kreidberg, Laura; Greene, Tom; Rodriguez, Joey; Vanderburg, Andrew; Laughlin, Gregory; Millholland, Sarah; Wang, Songhu; Cochran, William; Livingston, John; Gandolfi, Davide; Guenther, Eike; Fridlund, Malcolm; Korth, Judith

2018-05-01

We propose primary transit observations of three Super-Earth planets in the newly discovered planetary system around a bright, nearby star, GJ 9827. We recently announced the detection of three super-Earth planets in 1:3:5 commensurability, the inner planet, GJ 9827 b having a period of 1.2 days. This is the nearest planetary system that Kepler or K2 has found, at 30 pc, and given its brightness is one of the top systems for follow-up characterization. This system presents a unique opportunity to acquire three planetary transits for the price of one. There are several opportunities in the Spitzer visibility windows to obtain all three transits in a short period of time. We propose 3.6 micron observations of all three Super-Earth transits in a single 18-hour observation window. The proximity to a 1:3:5 resonance is intriguing from a dynamical standpoint as well. Indeed, anomalous transit timing offsets have been measured for planet d in Hubble observations that suffer from partial phase coverage. The short cadence and extended coverage of Spitzer is essential to provide a firm determination of the ephemerides and characterize any transit timing variations. Constraining these orbital parameters is critical for follow-up observations from space and ground-based telescopes. Due to the brightness of the host star, this planetary system is likely to be extensively observed in the years to come. Indeed, our team has acquired observations of the planets orbiting GJ9827 with Hubble in the ultraviolet and infrared. The proposed observations will provide infrared atmospheric measurements and firm orbital characterization which is critical for planning and designing future observations, in particular atmospheric characterization with JWST.

Exoplanet orbital eccentricity: multiplicity relation and the Solar System.

Science.gov (United States)

Limbach, Mary Anne; Turner, Edwin L

2015-01-06

The known population of exoplanets exhibits a much wider range of orbital eccentricities than Solar System planets and has a much higher average eccentricity. These facts have been widely interpreted to indicate that the Solar System is an atypical member of the overall population of planetary systems. We report here on a strong anticorrelation of orbital eccentricity with multiplicity (number of planets in the system) among cataloged radial velocity (RV) systems. The mean, median, and rough distribution of eccentricities of Solar System planets fits an extrapolation of this anticorrelation to the eight-planet case rather precisely despite the fact that no more than two Solar System planets would be detectable with RV data comparable to that in the exoplanet sample. Moreover, even if regarded as a single or double planetary system, the Solar System lies in a reasonably heavily populated region of eccentricity-multiplicity space. Thus, the Solar System is not anomalous among known exoplanetary systems with respect to eccentricities when its multiplicity is taken into account. Specifically, as the multiplicity of a system increases, the eccentricity decreases roughly as a power law of index -1.20. A simple and plausible but ad hoc and model-dependent interpretation of this relationship implies that ∼ 80% of the one-planet and 25% of the two-planet systems in our sample have additional, as yet undiscovered, members but that systems of higher observed multiplicity are largely complete (i.e., relatively rarely contain additional undiscovered planets). If low eccentricities indeed favor high multiplicities, habitability may be more common in systems with a larger number of planets.

KEPLER-63b: A GIANT PLANET IN A POLAR ORBIT AROUND A YOUNG SUN-LIKE STAR

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sanchis-Ojeda, Roberto; Winn, Joshua N.; Albrecht, Simon; Marcy, Geoffrey W.; Isaacson, Howard; Howard, Andrew W.; Johnson, John Asher; Torres, Guillermo; Carter, Joshua A.; Dawson, Rebekah I.; Geary, John C.; Campante, Tiago L.; Chaplin, William J.; Davies, Guy R.; Lund, Mikkel N.; Buchhave, Lars A.; Everett, Mark E.; Fischer, Debra A.; Gilliland, Ronald L.; Horch, Elliott P.

2013-01-01

We present the discovery and characterization of a giant planet orbiting the young Sun-like star Kepler-63 (KOI-63, m Kp = 11.6, T eff = 5576 K, M * = 0.98 M ☉ ). The planet transits every 9.43 days, with apparent depth variations and brightening anomalies caused by large starspots. The planet's radius is 6.1 ± 0.2 R ⊕ , based on the transit light curve and the estimated stellar parameters. The planet's mass could not be measured with the existing radial-velocity data, due to the high level of stellar activity, but if we assume a circular orbit, then we can place a rough upper bound of 120 M ⊕ (3σ). The host star has a high obliquity (ψ = 104°), based on the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect and an analysis of starspot-crossing events. This result is valuable because almost all previous obliquity measurements are for stars with more massive planets and shorter-period orbits. In addition, the polar orbit of the planet combined with an analysis of spot-crossing events reveals a large and persistent polar starspot. Such spots have previously been inferred using Doppler tomography, and predicted in simulations of magnetic activity of young Sun-like stars

KEPLER-63b: A GIANT PLANET IN A POLAR ORBIT AROUND A YOUNG SUN-LIKE STAR

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sanchis-Ojeda, Roberto; Winn, Joshua N.; Albrecht, Simon [Department of Physics, and Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States); Marcy, Geoffrey W.; Isaacson, Howard [Astronomy Department, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Howard, Andrew W. [Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States); Johnson, John Asher [Department of Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, 1200 E. California Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Torres, Guillermo; Carter, Joshua A.; Dawson, Rebekah I.; Geary, John C. [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Campante, Tiago L.; Chaplin, William J.; Davies, Guy R. [School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT (United Kingdom); Lund, Mikkel N. [Stellar Astrophysics Centre (SAC), Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 120, DK-8000 Aarhus C (Denmark); Buchhave, Lars A. [Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Juliane Maries vej 30, DK-2100 Copenhagen (Denmark); Everett, Mark E. [National Optical Astronomy Observatory, 950 N. Cherry Ave, Tucson, AZ 85719 (United States); Fischer, Debra A. [Astronomy Department, Yale University, New Haven, CT (United States); Gilliland, Ronald L. [Center for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds, The Pennsylvania State University, 525 Davey Lab, University Park, PA 16802 (United States); Horch, Elliott P. [Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven, CT 06515 (United States); and others

2013-09-20

We present the discovery and characterization of a giant planet orbiting the young Sun-like star Kepler-63 (KOI-63, m{sub Kp} = 11.6, T{sub eff} = 5576 K, M{sub *} = 0.98 M{sub ☉}). The planet transits every 9.43 days, with apparent depth variations and brightening anomalies caused by large starspots. The planet's radius is 6.1 ± 0.2 R{sub ⊕}, based on the transit light curve and the estimated stellar parameters. The planet's mass could not be measured with the existing radial-velocity data, due to the high level of stellar activity, but if we assume a circular orbit, then we can place a rough upper bound of 120 M{sub ⊕} (3σ). The host star has a high obliquity (ψ = 104°), based on the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect and an analysis of starspot-crossing events. This result is valuable because almost all previous obliquity measurements are for stars with more massive planets and shorter-period orbits. In addition, the polar orbit of the planet combined with an analysis of spot-crossing events reveals a large and persistent polar starspot. Such spots have previously been inferred using Doppler tomography, and predicted in simulations of magnetic activity of young Sun-like stars.

TRANSITING THE SUN. II. THE IMPACT OF STELLAR ACTIVITY ON Lyα TRANSITS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Llama, J.; Shkolnik, E. L., E-mail: joe.llama@lowell.edu [Lowell Observatory, 1400 W Mars Hill Road, Flagstaff, AZ 86001 (United States)

2016-01-20

High-energy observations of the Sun provide an opportunity to test the limits of our ability to accurately measure the properties of transiting exoplanets in the presence of stellar activity. Here we insert the transit of a hot Jupiter into continuous disk integrated data of the Sun in Lyα from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory/EVE instrument to assess the impact of stellar activity on the measured planet-to-star radius ratio (R{sub p}/R{sub ⋆}). In 75% of our simulated light curves, we measure the correct radius ratio; however, incorrect values can be measured if there is significant short-term variability in the light curve. The maximum measured value of R{sub p}/R{sub ⋆} is 50% larger than the input value, which is much smaller than the large Lyα transit depths that have been reported in the literature, suggesting that for stars with activity levels comparable to the Sun, stellar activity alone cannot account for these deep transits. We ran simulations without a transit and found that stellar activity cannot mimic the Lyα transit of 55 Cancari b, strengthening the conclusion that this planet has a partially transiting exopshere. We were able to compare our simulations to more active stars by artificially increasing the variability in the Solar Lyα light curve. In the higher variability data, the largest value of R{sub p}/R{sub ⋆} we measured is <3× the input value, which again is not large enough to reproduce the Lyα transit depth reported for the more active stars HD 189733 and GJ 436, supporting the interpretation that these planets have extended atmospheres and possible cometary tails.

Three regimes of extrasolar planet radius inferred from host star metallicities.

Science.gov (United States)

Buchhave, Lars A; Bizzarro, Martin; Latham, David W; Sasselov, Dimitar; Cochran, William D; Endl, Michael; Isaacson, Howard; Juncher, Diana; Marcy, Geoffrey W

2014-05-29

Approximately half of the extrasolar planets (exoplanets) with radii less than four Earth radii are in orbits with short periods. Despite their sheer abundance, the compositions of such planets are largely unknown. The available evidence suggests that they range in composition from small, high-density rocky planets to low-density planets consisting of rocky cores surrounded by thick hydrogen and helium gas envelopes. Here we report the metallicities (that is, the abundances of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium) of more than 400 stars hosting 600 exoplanet candidates, and find that the exoplanets can be categorized into three populations defined by statistically distinct (∼4.5σ) metallicity regions. We interpret these regions as reflecting the formation regimes of terrestrial-like planets (radii less than 1.7 Earth radii), gas dwarf planets with rocky cores and hydrogen-helium envelopes (radii between 1.7 and 3.9 Earth radii) and ice or gas giant planets (radii greater than 3.9 Earth radii). These transitions correspond well with those inferred from dynamical mass estimates, implying that host star metallicity, which is a proxy for the initial solids inventory of the protoplanetary disk, is a key ingredient regulating the structure of planetary systems.

FIVE NEW TRANSIT EPOCHS OF THE EXOPLANET OGLE-TR-111b

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoyer, S.; Rojo, P.; Lopez-Morales, M.; DIaz, R. F.; Chambers, J.; Minniti, D.

2011-01-01

We report five new transit epochs of the extrasolar planet OGLE-TR-111b, observed in the v-HIGH and Bessell I bands with the FORS1 and FORS2 at the ESO Very Large Telescope between 2008 April and May. The new transits have been combined with all previously published transit data for this planet to provide a new transit timing variations (TTVs) analysis of its orbit. We find no TTVs with amplitudes larger than 1.5 minutes over a four-year observation time baseline, in agreement with the recent result by Adams et al. Dynamical simulations fully exclude the presence of additional planets in the system with masses greater than 1.3, 0.4, and 0.5 M + at the 3:2, 1:2, and 2:1 resonances, respectively. We also place an upper limit of about 30 M + on the mass of potential second planets in the region between the 3:2 and 1:2 mean-motion resonances.

Debris disks as signposts of terrestrial planet formation. II. Dependence of exoplanet architectures on giant planet and disk properties

Science.gov (United States)

Raymond, S. N.; Armitage, P. J.; Moro-Martín, A.; Booth, M.; Wyatt, M. C.; Armstrong, J. C.; Mandell, A. M.; Selsis, F.; West, A. A.

2012-05-01

We present models for the formation of terrestrial planets, and the collisional evolution of debris disks, in planetary systems that contain multiple marginally unstable gas giants. We previously showed that in such systems, the dynamics of the giant planets introduces a correlation between the presence of terrestrial planets and cold dust, i.e., debris disks, which is particularly pronounced at λ ~ 70 μm. Here we present new simulations that show that this connection is qualitatively robust to a range of parameters: the mass distribution of the giant planets, the width and mass distribution of the outer planetesimal disk, and the presence of gas in the disk when the giant planets become unstable. We discuss how variations in these parameters affect the evolution. We find that systems with equal-mass giant planets undergo the most violent instabilities, and that these destroy both terrestrial planets and the outer planetesimal disks that produce debris disks. In contrast, systems with low-mass giant planets efficiently produce both terrestrial planets and debris disks. A large fraction of systems with low-mass (M ≲ 30 M⊕) outermost giant planets have final planetary separations that, scaled to the planets' masses, are as large or larger than the Saturn-Uranus and Uranus-Neptune separations in the solar system. We find that the gaps between these planets are not only dynamically stable to test particles, but are frequently populated by planetesimals. The possibility of planetesimal belts between outer giant planets should be taken into account when interpreting debris disk SEDs. In addition, the presence of ~ Earth-mass "seeds" in outer planetesimal disks causes the disks to radially spread to colder temperatures, and leads to a slow depletion of the outer planetesimal disk from the inside out. We argue that this may explain the very low frequency of >1 Gyr-old solar-type stars with observed 24 μm excesses. Our simulations do not sample the full range of