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Science Opportunities for HARPS-NEF David W. Latham PDR - 6 December 2007

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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Science Opportunities for HARPS-NEF David W. Latham PDR - 6 December 2007

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  1. Science Opportunities for HARPS-NEFDavid W. LathamPDR - 6 December 2007

  2. 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 • 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

  3. 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

  4. 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

  5. Kepler MISSION CONCEPT • Kepler Mission is optimized for finding habitable planets ( 10 to 0.5 MÅ ) 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 6

  6. 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

  7. Gliese 436: R=3.8 REarth, M=23 MEarth

  8. 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

  9. 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

  10. The Legacy of Kepler • Frequency/characteristics of planets • Mass, radius, density, orbital distributions • Reaches down to Earth-sized planets • Host star characteristics • Information for the design of future missions

  11. Legacy of TESS • The brightest and nearest transiting planets • Best targets for follow-up studies for years to come

  12. Other Opportunities • HARPS-NEF available to ING users • Follow-up of candidates from other surveys • Rossiter effect • General quantitative spectroscopy • Asteroseismology

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