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.

该奖项将帮助支持一个为期三年的项目，研究年轻的系外行星（围绕其他恒星运行的行星），以及行星形成的碎片盘。观测将结合使用高角度分辨率和动态范围成像。这项工作将有三个组成部分：(1)系外行星及其相关碎片盘的直接成像确定磁盘中颗粒种群的组成，大小分布和孔隙度；(2)利用新型高精度偏振计对系外行星大气散射光进行光学巡天；(3)通过确定年轻恒星和测量大约年龄，为双子行星成像仪未来的系外行星调查做准备。该项目旨在寻找远离母恒星的行星，这将测试行星形成理论，并帮助确定核心吸积或引力盘不稳定是否是有效的范例。对行星直径的测量将提供有关物质在极端压力下的行为的信息。这项研究中的许多碎片盘可能处于类似于我们太阳系晚期重轰炸时代的阶段；在这个时代，分散的小天体将水带到类地行星区，使地球上的生命得以存在。