Lines of research: Exoplanetary Systems & Solar System (SEYSS)

Exoplanetary Systems & Solar System (SEYSS)

The area of planetary and solar systems involves several research groups working on Exoplanets, Solar System and Cultural Astronomy. Our main objectives are:

  • The detection and characterization of giant and rocky planets around nearby stars using the most advanced instruments (CARMENES, ESPRESSO, HARPS Norte y Sur, SONG, LCO, MUSCAT2) and space missions (CoRoT, Kepler K2, CHEOPS, TESS and PLATO). The group is particularly interested in the study of terrestrial planets in the habitable zone of their host stars where water can be in liquid form.
  • The characterization of the atmospheres of planets to know their structure and composition, both by transits and direct imaging, using ground-based telescopes such as GTC and space missions such as CHEOPS.
  • Investigate the formation of exoplanet systems by studying the chemical composition of planet host stars, and the dynamical evolution of exoplanets at their early stages of formation.
  • Study the physical properties of different families of minor bodies of the Solar System (asteroids, comets, trans-neptunian objects, etc.) to understand the origin and evolution of Solar System with GTC and space missions such as OSIRIS-REx.
  • The study of ancient cosmologies through cultural astronomy and the defense of cultural heritage through the astronomy.
  • Publication
    Toluene pyrolysis in an electric ARC: Products analysis
    Toluene pyrolysis in a submerged carbon arc produced at least 72 different molecular species as detected by gas-chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry...
  • News
    Touching an asteroid and coming back: OSIRIS-REx and Bennu
    This Tuesday October 20th at around 23.12 hr (Canary time) the NASA space probe OSIRIS-REx will make its first attempt to collect samples from the asteroid...
  • Grant
    Towards the characterization of planetary atmospheres and the search for life: Cheops, Carmenes
    Understanding the climate of our planet Earth is one of the greatest challenges in Science today. Much is still to be learned for example, on the variations of...
  • Grant
    Towards the understanding of the late stages of stellar evolution and the formation of complex organic molecules
    Most of the stars (M < 8 solar masses, Ms) end their lives with a phase of strong mass loss on the Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB), just before they form...
  • Publication
    Tracing Chemical Evolution over the Extent of the Milky Way's Disk with APOGEE Red Clump Stars
    We employ the first two years of data from the near-infrared, high-resolution SDSS-III/APOGEE spectroscopic survey to investigate the distribution of...
  • Publication
    Tracking Advanced Planetary Systems (TAPAS) with HARPS-N . I. A multiple planetary system around the red giant star TYC 1422-614-1
    Context. Stars that have evolved off the main sequence are crucial for expanding the frontiers of knowledge on exoplanets toward higher stellar masses and for...
  • Publication
    Tracking Advanced Planetary Systems (TAPAS) with HARPS-N. II. Super Li-rich giant HD 107028
    Context. Lithium-rich giant stars are rare objects. For some of them, Li enrichment exceeds the abundance of this element found in solar system meteorites...
  • Publication
    Tracking Advanced Planetary Systems (TAPAS) with HARPS-N. V. A Massive Jupiter orbiting the very-low-metallicity giant star BD+03 2562 and a possible planet around HD 103485
    Context. Evolved stars with planets are crucial to understanding the dependency of the planet formation mechanism on the mass and metallicity of the parent star...
  • Publication
    TraMoS project - III. Improved physical parameters, timing analysis and starspot modelling of the WASP-4b exoplanet system from 38 transit observations
    We report 12 new transit observations of the exoplanet WASP-4b from the Transit Monitoring in the South (TraMoS) project. These transits are combined with all...