Direct Detection & Characterization of Extra-Solar Planets

直接检测

• 批准号: 0909188
• 负责人: James Graham
• 金额: $ 41.53万
• 依托单位: University of California-Berkeley
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-09-15 至 2015-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0909188&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Direct; Detection; & Characterization; Extra

This award will help support a three-year project to study young exoplanets (planets around other stars), along with the debris disks out of which the planets formed. The observations will use a combination of high angular resolution and dynamic range imaging. There will be three components to this effort: (1) direct imaging of exoplanets and their associated debris disks determine the composition, size distribution, and porosity of the grain populations in the disks; (2) an optical survey of exoplanets using a new, high precision polarimeter to detect scattered light from exoplanet atmospheres; and (3) preparation for future exoplanet surveys with the Gemini Planet Imager by identifying young stars and measuring approximate ages.This project is designed to find planets at large separation from their parent stars, which will test planet formation theory and help decide if core accretion or gravitational disk instability are valid paradigms. Measurements of planetary diameters will provide information about the behavior of matter at extreme pressures. Many of the debris disks in this study may be in a stage similar to the late heavy bombardment era in our own Solar System; during this era, scattering of small bodies brought water to the terrestrial planet zone and enabled life on Earth.

该奖项将有助于支持一个为期三年的项目，以研究年轻的系外行星（其他恒星周围的行星）以及行星形成的碎屑盘。 这些观察结果将使用高角度分辨率和动态范围成像的组合。 这项工作将有三个组成部分：（1）系外行星及其相关的碎屑盘的直接成像决定了磁盘中谷物种群的组成，尺寸分布和孔隙率； （2）使用新的高精度偏振计对外球星的光学调查，以检测外部球星大气中的散射光； （3）通过识别年轻的恒星并测量大约年龄的年轻人，为未来的系外行星进行调查准备。该项目旨在从其亲本恒星大分离中找到行星，这将测试行星形成理论，并有助于确定核心的积聚或重力盘不稳定性是否有效。行星直径的测量将提供有关物质行为在极端压力下的信息。 这项研究中的许多碎屑磁盘可能处于与我们自己的太阳系中的重型轰炸时代相似的阶段。在这个时代，小物体的散射将水带到陆地行星区，并在地球上启用了生命。