Download Science Overview

Science Opportunities
for HARPS-NEF
David W. Latham
PDR - 6 December 2007
Transiting Planets
• ExoPlanet Task Force Report (draft)
– Advice to NASA & NSF on exoplanet research
• 5/10/15 year time horizons
– Transiting planets are key in 5/10 year future
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Yield actual mass, radius, density, structure
Follow-up studies of planetary atmospheres
Timing variations can detect Earth-sized planets
Rossiter effect yields spin/orbit alignment
Ground-Based Discoveries
• Photometric surveys yield many candidates
– Most candidates involve eclipsing stars
– Confirmation requires radial velocity orbit
– Sensitive to Jupiter-sized planets
• A few planets detected by RV also transit
– Bright, best for follow-up work
– Smallest (Gls436) is like Neptune
Space Missions
• MOST (small optics)
– Follow-up of bright systems
• CoRoT (medium optics)
– Survey a few square degrees for 5 months each
– Discovered systems are faint
• Kepler (big optics)
– Survey 100 square degrees for 3.5 years
– Discovered systems are not quite so faint
Kepler MISSION CONCEPT
• Kepler Mission is optimized for finding
habitable planets ( 10 to 0.5 M )
in the HZ (out to 1 AU ) of solar-like stars
• Monitor 100,000 main-sequence stars
• Use a one-meter Schmidt telescope:
FOV >100 deg2 with an array of 42 CCD
• Photometric precision: < 20 ppm in 6.5 hours
for V = 12 solar-like star
=> 4s detection for Earth-size transit
• Mission: Earth-trailing orbit for continuous
viewing, > 4 year duration
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Follow-Up Spectroscopy
• Initial reconnaissance spectroscopy
– Identify stellar imposters
– Characterize host star
• CfA Digital Speedometers
• New fiber-fed TRES instrument at FLWO
• Precise radial velocities for orbits/masses
– HIRES, HET, HARPS-North
Gliese 436: R=3.8 REarth, M=23 MEarth
Kepler and HARPS
• Kepler yields 20 times better photometry
• HARPS yields 20 times better RV
• Kepler launch now 16 February 2009
– First candidates 9 months later
– HARPS ready for 2010 observing season
Transiting Exoplanet Sky Survey
• All-sky survey from space
– Smaller planets than ground-based surveys
– Finds brighter targets, allows better follow-up
– Harvest of ~2000 transiting planets expected
• SMEX Proposal – due 15 January 2008
– MIT, CfA, NASA Ames …
– Launch could be 2011
The Legacy of Kepler
• Frequency/characteristics of planets
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Mass, radius, density, orbital distributions
Reaches down to Earth-sized planets
Host star characteristics
Information for the design of future missions
Legacy of TESS
• The brightest and nearest transiting planets
– Best targets for follow-up studies for years to
come
Other Opportunities
• HARPS-NEF available to ING users
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Follow-up of candidates from other surveys
Rossiter effect
General quantitative spectroscopy
Asteroseismology