Exoplanets and Astrobiology

    General
    Description

    The search for life in the universe has been driven by recent discoveries of planets around other stars (known as exoplanets), becoming one of the most active fields in modern astrophysics. The growing number of new exoplanets discovered in recent years and the recent advance on the study of their atmospheres are not only providing new valuable information about its physical properties, but also allowing to constrain the properties of the Solar system's planets within a more global context. The field is approaching to the important discovery of the first potentially habitable planets and encouraging more detailed studies of them. With the launching of upcoming related satellites like JWST, CHEOPS, TESS, ARIEL and PLATO, the exoplanets field faces a bright future.

    It is for this reason that this field is aid of, and at the same time promotes, the development of increasingly sensitive and stable instrumentation for both, ground-based telescopes and space missions. Our group is particularly prepared for these two fronts. On the one hand, during the last years we have developed observational and reduction techniques of exoplanet transits data for the ORM telescopes, ours being one of the most productive groups in the exploitation of GTC. On the other hand, all ESA space missions (present and future) related to exoplanets have one or more components of the project as CoIs. Within the frame of this project, we intend that IAC researchers maintain an advantageous position regarding the operation of OSIRIS and CanariCam, first light

    GTC's instruments, and participate in the construction, commissioning and operation of new instruments such as the high resolution optical spectrograph HORUS at GTC. The exploitation of the photometry and spectroscopy of transits with LIRIS at WHT is also one of our principal interests, especially in preparation for the installation in 2015 of EMIR on the GTC .

    To summarize, the project "Exoplanets and Astrobiology" will focus on these four action lines:

    1) The characterization of atmospheric and physical properties of exoplanets (GTC, WHT, ARIEL, HARPSN, CARMENES, ESPRESSO, etc. ..)

    2) The search and confirmation of exoplanets by transits techniques (CoRoT, Kepler, K2, CHEOPS, XO, LCOGT, W FC, DISH, etc. ..)

    3) The search and confirmation of exoplanet by radial velocity techniques (HARPSN, HORUS, LCOGT, SONG, CARMENES)

    4) Astrobiology

    Principal investigator
    Project staff
    1. Detection of He in the atmosphere of an exoplanet from the ground, published in Science
    2. Detection of a super-earth around Barnard star, published in Nature
    3. Detection of the first TESS planets, with several papers of high relevance
    4. Discovery of Na and Halpha features in the spectrum of KELT-20b with TNG
    5. Publication of the Handbook of Exoplanets, the most extensive work of reference in the field of exoplanets. The Handbook was edited by members of our group, and includes contributions by about 300 experts worldwide, including 12 members of IAC.

    Related publications

    • CARMENES input catalogue of M dwarfs. IV. New rotation periods from photometric time series

      Aims: The main goal of this work is to measure rotation periods of the M-type dwarf stars being observed by the CARMENES exoplanet survey to help distinguish radial-velocity signals produced by magnetic activity from those produced by exoplanets. Rotation periods are also fundamental for a detailed study of the relation between activity and

      Díez Alonso, E. et al.

      Advertised on:

      1
      2019
      Citations
      79
    • A Second Terrestrial Planet Orbiting the Nearby M Dwarf LHS 1140

      LHS 1140 is a nearby mid-M dwarf known to host a temperate rocky super-Earth (LHS 1140 b) on a 24.737-day orbit. Based on photometric observations by MEarth and Spitzer as well as Doppler spectroscopy from the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher, we report the discovery of an additional transiting rocky companion (LHS 1140 c) with a mass

      Ment, K. et al.

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      1
      2019
      Citations
      85
    • K2-140b and K2-180b - Characterization of a hot Jupiter and a mini-Neptune from the K2 mission

      We report the independent discovery and characterization of two K2 planets: K2-180b, a mini-Neptune-sized planet in an 8.9-d orbit transiting a V = 12.6 mag, metal-poor ([Fe/H] = -0.65 ± 0.10) K2V star in K2 campaign 5; K2-140b, a transiting hot Jupiter in a 6.6-d orbit around a V = 12.6 mag G6V ([Fe/H] = + 0.10 ± 0.10) star in K2 campaign 10. Our

      Korth, J. et al.

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      1
      2019
      Citations
      18
    • Machine-learning approaches to exoplanet transit detection and candidate validation in wide-field ground-based surveys

      Since the start of the Wide-angle Search for Planets (WASP) program, more than 160 transiting exoplanets have been discovered in the WASP data. In the past, possible transit-like events identified by the WASP pipeline have been vetted by human inspection to eliminate false alarms and obvious false positives. The goal of this paper is to assess the

      Schanche, N. et al.

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      3
      2019
      Citations
      37
    • K2-264: a transiting multiplanet system in the Praesepe open cluster

      Planet host stars with well-constrained ages provide a rare window to the time domain of planet formation and evolution. The NASA K2 mission has enabled the discovery of the vast majority of known planets transiting stars in clusters, providing a valuable sample of planets with known ages and radii. We present the discovery of two planets

      Kuzuhara, Masayuki et al.

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      3
      2019
      Citations
      30
    • Time-resolved image polarimetry of TRAPPIST-1 during planetary transits

      We obtained linear polarization photometry (J-band) and low-resolution spectroscopy (ZJ-bands) of TRAPPIST-1, which is a planetary system formed by an M8-type low-mass star and seven temperate, Earth-sized planets. The photopolarimetric monitoring campaign covered 6.5 h of continuous observations including one full transit of planet TRAPPIST-1d and

      Zapatero Osorio, M. R. et al.

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      3
      2019
      Citations
      6
    • Detection of He I λ10830 Å absorption on HD 189733 b with CARMENES high-resolution transmission spectroscopy

      We present three transit observations of HD 189733 b obtained with the high-resolution spectrograph CARMENES at Calar Alto. A strong absorption signal is detected in the near-infrared He I triplet at 10830 Å in all three transits. During mid-transit, the mean absorption level is 0.88 ± 0.04% measured in a ±10 km s-1 range at a net blueshift of - 3

      Salz, M. et al.

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      12
      2018
      Citations
      125
    • Exploring the substellar population in the Hyades open cluster

      Aims: Our aim is to identify substellar members of the nearby Hyades open star cluster to determine the photometric and spectroscopic properties of brown dwarfs at moderately old ages and extend our knowledge of the substellar mass function of the cluster. Methods: We cross-matched the 2MASS and WISE public catalogues and measured proper motions to

      Pérez-Garrido, A. et al.

      Advertised on:

      12
      2018
      Citations
      5
    • The CARMENES search for exoplanets around M dwarfs. The warm super-Earths in twin orbits around the mid-type M dwarfs Ross 1020 (GJ 3779) and LP 819-052 (GJ 1265)

      We announce the discovery of two planetary companions orbiting around the low-mass stars Ross 1020 (GJ 3779, M4.0V) and LP 819-052 (GJ 1265, M4.5V). The discovery is based on the analysis of CARMENES radial velocity (RV) observations in the visual channel as part of its survey for exoplanets around M dwarfs. In the case of GJ 1265, CARMENES

      Luque, R. et al.

      Advertised on:

      12
      2018
      Citations
      28
    • Ground-based detection of an extended helium atmosphere in the Saturn-mass exoplanet WASP-69b

      Hot gas giant exoplanets can lose part of their atmosphere due to strong stellar irradiation, and these losses can affect their physical and chemical evolution. Studies of atmospheric escape from exoplanets have mostly relied on space-based observations of the hydrogen Lyman-α line in the far ultraviolet region, which is strongly affected by

      Nortmann, L. et al.

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      12
      2018
      Citations
      184
    • Characterization of Exoplanets: Secondary Eclipses

      When an exoplanet passes behind its host star, we can measure the time of the occultation, its depth, and its color. In this chapter we describe how these observables can be used to deduce physical characteristics of the planet such as its averaged dayside emission, departures from uniform disk illumination, or a precise measurement of the orbital

      Alonso, Roi

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      2018
      Citations
      11
    • The Solar System as a Benchmark for Exoplanet Systems Interpretation

      For hundreds of years, the Solar System and its planetary bodies were the only example in which to base our models of planet formation and evolution. With the discovery of exoplanets, a much greater diversity of planetary types and system architectures have been uncovered. Nevertheless, the Solar System planets remain our best test bed to

      Montañés-Rodríguez, Pilar et al.

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      2018
      Citations
      0
    • The Detectability of Earth's Biosignatures Across Time

      Over the past two decades, enormous advances in the detection of exoplanets have taken place. Currently, we have discovered hundreds of Earth-sized planets, several of them within the habitable zone of their star. In the coming years, the efforts will concentrate in the characterization of these planets and their atmospheres to try to detect the

      Pallé, Enric

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      2018
      Citations
      2
    • Transit Photometry as an Exoplanet Discovery Method

      Photometry with the transit method has arguably been the most successful exoplanet discovery method to date. A short overview about the rise of that method to its present status is given. The method's strength is the rich set of parameters that can be obtained from transiting planets, in particular in combination with radial velocity observations

      Deeg, Hans J. et al.

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      2018
      Citations
      14
    • Small Telescope Exoplanet Transit Surveys: XO

      The XO project aims at detecting transiting exoplanets around bright stars from the ground using small telescopes. The original configuration of XO (McCullough et al. 2005) has been changed and extended as described here. The instrumental setup consists of three identical units located at different sites, each composed of two lenses equipped with

      Crouzet, N.

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      2018
      Citations
      4
    • Bayesian Methods for Exoplanet Science

      Exoplanet research is carried out at the limits of the capabilities of current telescopes and instruments. The studied signals are weak and often embedded in complex systematics from instrumental, telluric, and astrophysical sources. Combining repeated observations of periodic events, simultaneous observations with multiple telescopes, different

      Parviainen, H.

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      2018
      Citations
      5
    • Metal-Depleted Brown Dwarfs

      This chapter reviews our current knowledge of metal-poor ultracool dwarfs with spectral types later than M7. The current census of M, L, and T subdwarfs is explored. The main color trends of subdwarfs from the optical to the mid-infrared are described and their spectral features presented, which led to a preliminary and tentative spectral

      Lodieu, N.

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      2018
      Citations
      0
    • Planets, candidates, and binaries from the CoRoT/Exoplanet programme. The CoRoT transit catalogue

      The CoRoT space mission observed 163 665 stars over 26 stellar fields in the faint star channel. The exoplanet teams detected a total of 4123 transit-like features in the 177 454 light curves. We present the complete re-analysis of all these detections carried out with the same softwares so that to ensure their homogeneous analysis. Although the

      Deleuil, M. et al.

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      11
      2018
      Citations
      33
    • Brown dwarf companion with a period of 4.6 yr interacting with the hot Jupiter CoRoT-20 b

      We report the discovery of an additional substellar companion in the CoRoT-20 system based on six years of HARPS and SOPHIE radial velocity follow-up. CoRoT-20 c has a minimum mass of 17 ± 1 MJup and orbits the host star in 4.59 ± 0.05 yr, with an orbital eccentricity of 0.60 ± 0.03. This is the first identified system with an eccentric hot Jupiter

      Rey, J. et al.

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      11
      2018
      Citations
      10
    • Four winters of photometry with ASTEP South at Dome C, Antarctica

      Context. Dome C in Antarctica is a promising site for photometric observations thanks to the continuous night during the Antarctic winter and favorable weather conditions. Aims.We developed instruments to assess the quality of this site for photometry in the visible and to detect and characterize variable objects through the Antarctic Search for

      Crouzet, N. et al.

      Advertised on:

      11
      2018
      Citations
      9

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