Download The New Worlds - ULB Darmstadt

Fabienne Casoli and Therese Encrenaz
The New Worlds
Extrasolar Planets
Published in association with
& Springer
Praxis
Publishing
Chichester, UK
PR
Contents
Authors' preface
EXTRASOLAR PLANETS: THE HOLY GRAIL OF ASTRONOMERS
1
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
2
4
6
8
Twelve years of discoveries and surprises
First clues
The solar system: an atypical planetary system?
The big question
IN SEARCH OF EXOPLANETS
13
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
2.6
2.7
2.8
2.9
2.10
14
16
18
20
22
24
27
30
32
34
The plurality of inhabited worlds
Problems with direct imaging
Barnard's Star-: a disappointment
Planets around pulsars
The key to success: velocimetry
The ins and outs of velocimetric detection
51 Pegasi b: the first discovery
When planets cross the disks of stars
Observing a planetary transit
The gravitational microlensing method
TWELVE YEARS OF DISCOVERY
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
3.5
3.6
3.7
3.8
3.9
3.10
A very selective method of discovery
Exoplanets: a heavyweight family?
Hot Jupiters and Pegasids
Somewhat eccentric planets
Planetary systems
Cannibal stars?
Dark hints of planets
Close-up of a hot Jupiter: HD 209458 b
How many stars have planets?
Failed stars or supermassive planets?
39
s
"
40
42
44
47
50
52
54
57
59
61
vi Contents
4
5
WHAT DO WE LEARN FROM OUR OWN SOLAR SYSTEM?
65
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.5
4.6
4.7
4.8
4.9
4.10
66
68
70
72
74
76
79
81
83
86
THE FORMATION OF PLANETARY SYSTEMS
5.1
5.2
5.3
5.4
5.5
5.6
5.7
5.8
5.9
5.10
5.11
5.12
6
7
Early theories: the seventeenth century onwards
How old is the solar system?
Looking at nearby stars
The protoplanetary disk: the current picture
The ice line
Terrestrial and giant planets
From Jupiter to Neptune: four different worlds
Terrestrial planets: divergent destinies
Between terrestrials and giants: the missing planet?
The origin of comets: the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud
Star-birth
Inside protoplanetary disks
Planetary embryos
Recipes for a giant planet
Migrating planets
Survival strategies
Planets around pulsars
Stability in planetary systems
Disks of debris
The solar system: an exception?
The spectra of exoplanets
Towards new types of exoplanet
91
92
94
96
97
100
103
105
107
110
112
114
116
LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE
121
6.1
6.2
6.3
6.4
6.5
6.6
6.7
6.8
6.9
6.10
6.11
6.12
122
124
126
128
130
133
135
137
140
142
144
147
How do we define life?
Why life on Earth?
Searching for life on Mars
The Earth: a habitable world
Liquid water in the past history of Mars?
Europa and Titan: harbouring life in the outer solar system?
The first building bricks: interstellar chemistry
f
The habitability zone in planetary systems
The search for exoEarths
Detecting life on Earth
Detecting life on exoplanets
The search for extraterrestrial civilisations
FUTURE PROJECTS
151
7.1
7.2
7.3
7.4
152
154
156
158
Observing the formation of planets in protoplanetary disks
The future for velocimetry
The astrometry of tomorrow
ExoEarths in transit
Contents vii
7.5 Seeing exoplanets at long last
7.6 Detecting exoEarths with interferometry
160
163
Appendix 1 The eight planets of the solar system
Appendix 2 The first 200 extrasolar planets
167
169
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
175
183
185