Detecting Planets Transiting Ultra-Cool Dwarfs with the SPECULOOS Project

通过 SPECULOOS 项目探测凌日超冷矮星的行星

• 批准号: 1948645
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Cambridge
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2017 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-1948645
• 关键词: Detecting; Planets; Transiting; Ultra; Cool

Comprised of research teams in Cambridge (UK) and Liege (Belgium), the SPECULOOS Project (Search for habitable Planets EClipsing ULtra-cOOl Stars) aims to hunt for transits in approximately 1000 of the nearest "ultracool dwarf" stars (UCDs). These Jupiter-sized stars range from 7-10% of the solar mass and have luminosities less than 0.1% of the Sun meaning that their habitable zones span orbits of only a few days. These properties make UCDs prime targets for the detection of temperate terrestrial planets from ground-based 1m-class robotic telescopes, as well as for their detailed atmospheric characterization with upcoming facilities (such as JWST and E-ELT). This provides us with the first opportunity to probe the atmospheres of temperate terrestrial planets in the search for signs of habitability beyond the Solar System. My research has been in the development of a pipeline for SPECULOOS which will automate the processes of data reduction and calibration, measure precise aperture photometry, cross-match with catalogues (such as Gaia and 2MASS) and generate light-curves for each star in a field of view. The lightcurves will then be automatically detrended and searched for transits. We will then validate (through cross-matching, vetting and follow up observations) the best candidate exoplanets.

由剑桥（英国）和列日（比利时）的研究团队组成的SPECULOOS项目（寻找适宜居住的行星日食超冷恒星）旨在寻找大约1000颗最近的“超冷矮星”（ucd）的凌日现象。这些木星大小的恒星的质量在太阳质量的7-10%之间，光度不到太阳的0.1%，这意味着它们的宜居带的轨道跨度只有几天。这些特性使ucd成为地面1米级机器人望远镜探测温带类地行星的主要目标，以及即将到来的设施（如JWST和E-ELT）对其详细大气特征的描述。这为我们提供了第一个探索温带类地行星大气层的机会，以寻找太阳系以外可居住的迹象。我的研究一直在为SPECULOOS开发一个管道，它将自动化数据缩减和校准过程，测量精确的光圈光度，与目录（如盖亚和2MASS）交叉匹配，并为视场中的每颗恒星生成光曲线。然后，光曲线将自动去趋势化并搜索凌日。然后，我们将验证（通过交叉匹配、审查和后续观察）最佳候选系外行星。