17 research outputs found
Engaging Citizen Scientists to Keep Transit Times Fresh and Ensure the Efficient Use of Transiting Exoplanet Characterization Missions
This white paper advocates for the creation of a community-wide program to
maintain precise mid-transit times of exoplanets that would likely be targeted
by future platforms. Given the sheer number of targets that will require
careful monitoring between now and the launch of the next generation of
exoplanet characterization missions, this network will initially be devised as
a citizen science project -- focused on the numerous amateur astronomers, small
universities and community colleges and high schools that have access to modest
sized telescopes and off-the-shelf CCDs.Comment: White Paper submitted to Astro2020 Science Call, 5 pages, 3 figures,
community comments and involvement are welcome
Constraining Exoplanet Metallicities and Aerosols with ARIEL: An Independent Study by the Contribution to ARIEL Spectroscopy of Exoplanets (CASE) Team
Launching in 2028, ESA's Atmospheric Remote-sensing Exoplanet Large-survey
(ARIEL) survey of 1000 transiting exoplanets will build on the legacies
of Kepler and TESS and complement JWST by placing its high precision exoplanet
observations into a large, statistically-significant planetary population
context. With continuous 0.5--7.8~m coverage from both FGS (0.50--0.55,
0.8--1.0, and 1.0--1.2~m photometry; 1.25--1.95~m spectroscopy) and
AIRS (1.95--7.80~m spectroscopy), ARIEL will determine atmospheric
compositions and probe planetary formation histories during its 3.5-year
mission. NASA's proposed Contribution to ARIEL Spectroscopy of Exoplanets
(CASE) would be a subsystem of ARIEL's FGS instrument consisting of two
visible-to-infrared detectors, associated readout electronics, and thermal
control hardware. FGS, to be built by the Polish Academy of Sciences' Space
Research Centre, will provide both fine guiding and visible to near-infrared
photometry and spectroscopy, providing powerful diagnostics of atmospheric
aerosol contribution and planetary albedo, which play a crucial role in
establishing planetary energy balance. The CASE team presents here an
independent study of the capabilities of ARIEL to measure exoplanetary
metallicities, which probe the conditions of planet formation, and FGS to
measure scattering spectral slopes, which indicate if an exoplanet has
atmospheric aerosols (clouds and hazes), and geometric albedos, which help
establish planetary climate. Our design reference mission simulations show that
ARIEL could measure the mass-metallicity relationship of its 1000-planet
single-visit sample to and that FGS could distinguish between
clear, cloudy, and hazy skies and constrain an exoplanet's atmospheric aerosol
composition to for hundreds of targets, providing
statistically-transformative science for exoplanet atmospheres.Comment: accepted to PASP; 23 pages, 6 figure
Engaging Citizen Scientists to Keep Transit Times Fresh and Ensure the Efficient Use of Transiting Exoplanet Characterization Missions
This white paper advocates for the creation of a community-wide program to maintain precise mid-transit times of exoplanets that would likely be targeted by future platforms. Given the sheer number of targets that will require careful monitoring between now and the launch of the next generation of exoplanet characterization missions, this network will initially be devised as a citizen science project -- focused on the numerous amateur astronomers, small universities and community colleges and high schools that have access to modest sized telescopes and off-the-shelf CCDs
Constraining Exoplanet Metallicities and Aerosols with ARIEL: An Independent Study by the Contribution to ARIEL Spectroscopy of Exoplanets (CASE) Team
Launching in 2028, ESA's 0.64 m^2 Atmospheric Remote-sensing Exoplanet Large-survey (ARIEL) survey of ~1000 transiting exoplanets will build on the legacies of NASA's Kepler and Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), and complement the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) by placing its high-precision exoplanet observations into a large, statistically significant planetary population context. With continuous 0.5–7.8 μm coverage from both FGS (0.5–0.6, 0.6–0.81, and 0.81–1.1 μm photometry; 1.1–1.95 μm spectroscopy) and AIRS (1.95–7.80 μm spectroscopy), ARIEL will determine atmospheric compositions and probe planetary formation histories during its 3.5 yr mission. NASA's proposed Contribution to ARIEL Spectroscopy of Exoplanets (CASE) would be a subsystem of ARIEL's Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS) instrument consisting of two visible-to-infrared detectors, associated readout electronics, and thermal control hardware. FGS, to be built by the Polish Academy of Sciences Space Research Centre, will provide both fine guiding and visible to near-infrared photometry and spectroscopy, providing powerful diagnostics of atmospheric aerosol contribution and planetary albedo, which play a crucial role in establishing planetary energy balance. The CASE team presents here an independent study of the capabilities of ARIEL to measure exoplanetary metallicities, which probe the conditions of planet formation, and FGS to measure scattering spectral slopes, which indicate if an exoplanet has atmospheric aerosols (clouds and hazes), and geometric albedos, which help establish planetary climate. Our simulations assume that ARIEL's performance will be 1.3× the photon-noise limit. This value is motivated by current transiting exoplanet observations: Spitzer/IRAC and Hubble/WFC3 have empirically achieved 1.15× the photon-noise limit. One could expect similar performance from ARIEL, JWST, and other proposed future missions such as HabEx, LUVOIR, and Origins. Our design reference mission simulations show that ARIEL could measure the mass–metallicity relationship of its 1000-planet single-visit sample to >7.5σ and that FGS could distinguish between clear, cloudy, and hazy skies and constrain an exoplanet's atmospheric aerosol composition to ≳5σ for hundreds of targets, providing statistically transformative science for exoplanet atmospheres
Constraining Exoplanet Metallicities and Aerosols with ARIEL: An Independent Study by the Contribution to ARIEL Spectroscopy of Exoplanets (CASE) Team
Launching in 2028, ESA's 0.64 m^2 Atmospheric Remote-sensing Exoplanet Large-survey (ARIEL) survey of ~1000 transiting exoplanets will build on the legacies of NASA's Kepler and Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), and complement the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) by placing its high-precision exoplanet observations into a large, statistically significant planetary population context. With continuous 0.5–7.8 μm coverage from both FGS (0.5–0.6, 0.6–0.81, and 0.81–1.1 μm photometry; 1.1–1.95 μm spectroscopy) and AIRS (1.95–7.80 μm spectroscopy), ARIEL will determine atmospheric compositions and probe planetary formation histories during its 3.5 yr mission. NASA's proposed Contribution to ARIEL Spectroscopy of Exoplanets (CASE) would be a subsystem of ARIEL's Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS) instrument consisting of two visible-to-infrared detectors, associated readout electronics, and thermal control hardware. FGS, to be built by the Polish Academy of Sciences Space Research Centre, will provide both fine guiding and visible to near-infrared photometry and spectroscopy, providing powerful diagnostics of atmospheric aerosol contribution and planetary albedo, which play a crucial role in establishing planetary energy balance. The CASE team presents here an independent study of the capabilities of ARIEL to measure exoplanetary metallicities, which probe the conditions of planet formation, and FGS to measure scattering spectral slopes, which indicate if an exoplanet has atmospheric aerosols (clouds and hazes), and geometric albedos, which help establish planetary climate. Our simulations assume that ARIEL's performance will be 1.3× the photon-noise limit. This value is motivated by current transiting exoplanet observations: Spitzer/IRAC and Hubble/WFC3 have empirically achieved 1.15× the photon-noise limit. One could expect similar performance from ARIEL, JWST, and other proposed future missions such as HabEx, LUVOIR, and Origins. Our design reference mission simulations show that ARIEL could measure the mass–metallicity relationship of its 1000-planet single-visit sample to >7.5σ and that FGS could distinguish between clear, cloudy, and hazy skies and constrain an exoplanet's atmospheric aerosol composition to ≳5σ for hundreds of targets, providing statistically transformative science for exoplanet atmospheres