EXO-IT: Il Portale dedicato alla ricerca sui pianeti extrasolari in Italia

1. EXO-IT: Il Portale dedicato alla ricerca sui pianeti extrasolari in Italia Pagano1 I., Micela2 G., Gelardi2 C. 1 INAF-Osservatorio Astrofisico di Catania; 2 INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo Il sito www.oact.inaf.it/exoit presenta le iniziative e i progetti italiani nel campo della ricerca sugli esopianeti e si propone di pubblicare tutte le notizie di interesse per la comunità scientifica italiana. In particolare raccoglie pubblicazioni, bandi, annunci e nuovi risultati. I contenuti del sito sono aggiornati continuamente, grazie anche ai contributi degli utenti. L’iniziativa è volta ad aggregare la comunità e sviluppare le sinergie tra i diversi progetti. CoRoT is dedicated to ultra-high precision, wide-field, relative stellar photometry, for very long continuous observing runs on the same field of view. It has two main scientific programs working simultaneously on adjacent regions of the sky: asteroseismology and search for extrasolar planets. http://smsc.cnes.fr/COROT HARPS-N is a high-precision spectrograph. It will be located in the Northern hemisphere on the INAF’s TNG. The immediate scientific goal of HARPS-N is the observation of the Kepler transiting-planet candidates for the characterization and discovery of terrestrial planets by combining transits and Doppler measurements. https://plone2.unige.ch/HARPS-N INAF approved in 2009 a two-yearproject of national relevance (PRIN-INAF-2008) dedicated to the study of the environmental effects in the formation and evolution of planets beyond our Solar System. Four teams based at different INAF institutions are involved in the project EChO (Exoplanet CHaracterization Observatory) is a mission concept selected by ESA for an Assessment Study. It will characterize spectroscopically the atmospheres of giant and terrestrial exoplanets transiting their parent star (with the combined light technique). ECHO can characterize also planets in the habitable zone of late type stars. http://thesis.iap.fr/ INAF scientists contribute to an ongoing ESO Large Program using NACO at VLT. This project aims at providing an homogeneous statistically significant study of the occurence of Extrasolar Giant Planets and Brown Dwarfs in 5-500AU orbit around young, nearby stars. Direct imaging surveys EPICS is  a proposed instrument  for the Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs) dedicated  to the detection and   characterization   of   exoplanets   by   direct   imaging   and spectroscopy. It will dramatically enlarge the discovery space  towards older giant  planets seen in  reflected light and  ultimately even  a  small number  of  rocky planets.  http://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/eelt/ SIMPLE: A High Resolution Near-infrared Spectrograph for the E-ELT SIMPLE is will tackle outstanding astrophysical questions at: 1) the detection and characterization of exo-planet atmospheres; 2) the early nucleosynthesis and chemical enrichment in the inner Galaxy; 3) the chemical and dust enrichment of proto-galaxies in the early Universe at the reionization epoch. http://simple.bo.astro.it/ GIANO is an optimized NIR spectrograph which can yield, in a single exposure, 0.9-2.5 micron spectra with a very high throughput throughout the whole spectral range. This project is part of the Second Generation Instrumentation Plan of the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG). http://www.bo.astro.it/giano/ SPICES: Spectro-Polarimetric Imaging and Characterization of Exoplanetary Systems It is a 5 years M-class mission proposed in response to the M3 ESA call to image and to characterize extrasolar planets and circumstellar disks in the visible (450- 900nm). http://luth7.obspm.fr/SPICES/SPICES.html Nearby Earth Astrometric Telescope (NEAT) is a proposal for a space mission whose main objective is the detection and characterization of planetary systems around our closest “Sun-like” neighbors. NEAT main program will consist in observing  ~200 nearest F, G and K stars, looking for planets like ours. GAIA will measure astrometrically actual masses and orbital parameters for thousands of giant planets, and will determine the degree of coplanarity in possibly hundreds of multiple-planet systems. It will carry out crucial tests of theoretical models of gas giant planet formation and migration. ESPRESSO is characterized by high mechanical, thermal and spectroscopic stability and the radial-velocity precision. The search for rocky-planets in the habitable zone around solar-type stars is one of the main scientific drivers of the project. http://espresso.astro.up.pt/index.php SPHERE is a 2nd generation instrument for VLT aimed to direct detection and spectral characterization of extrasolar planets. SPHERE includes a powerful extreme adaptive optics system (SAXO), various coronagraphs, an infrared CODEX (COsmic Dynamics and EXo-earth experiment) is an optical, very stable, high spectral resolution instrument proposed for the European ELT.One of the main aim of CODEX is the detection of Earth twins in the Habitable Zone of solar-type stars.  http://www.iac.es/proyecto/codex/ For some of these stars, NEAT will even be able to detect planets smaller differential imaging camera (IRDIS), an infrared integral field spectrograph (IFS) and a visible differential polarimeter (ZIMPOL). http://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/develop/instruments/sphere/ Echelle SPectrograph for Rocky Exoplanet and Stable Spectroscopic Observations than the Earth. http://neat.obs.ujf-grenoble.fr/NEAT.html PLATO is one of the three medium class (M class) mission selected for definition study in the framework of the ESA Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 program. The scientific goal of PLATO is the discovery and study of extrasolar planetary systems by means of planetary transits detection down to earth mass planet in habitable zone around solar type stars. http://www.rssd.esa.int/index.php?project=GAIA&page=index TASTE (The Asiago Search for Transit Timing variations of Exoplanets) is collecting high-precision, short-cadence light curves for a selected sample of transits by using imaging differential photometry at the Asiago 1.82m telescope. The primary aim of the project is to detect low-mass planets and moons with two indirect techniques: the Transit Timing Variation and the Transit Duration Variation. Editorial Committee: Silvano Desidera (INAF-OAPD), Antonino F. Lanza (INAF-OACT), Giusi Micela (INAF-OAPA), Paolo Molaro (INAF-OATS),  Livia Origlia (INAF-OAB),  Isabella Pagano (INAF-OACT), Giampaolo Piotto (Univ.PD), Ennio Poretti (INAF - OAB), Roberto Ragazzoni (INAF-OAPD),  Alessandro Sozzetti (INAF-OAT) PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars www.plato-mission.eu