A Search for Extrasolar Planets from the South Pole

该项目将在南极运行一个小型光学望远镜，通过用电荷耦合器件光度计持续跟踪银河系南部星星场，寻找太阳系外行星并确定其特征，寻找行星经过其母星星时出现的周期性变暗现象。 最近发现的许多近距离巨大的系外行星扩大了我们对其他行星系统的了解，并证明了这些系统与太阳系有多么不同。 然而，他们的发现提出了关于这些行星对宜居行星存在的影响的重要问题。到目前为止，只有一颗太阳系外行星HD 209458 b被观测到经过母星星。 这一项目有可能使观测到凌日的太阳系外行星数量增加十倍。 南极是探测这类行星的绝佳地点，因为那里有漫长的冬夜，在此期间，可以最有效地探测到随机相位的凌日。 此外，极地恒星场的恒定高度避免了大的每日大气消光变化，从而可以提高光度精度和寻找较小的行星，具体而言，该项目将在南极建立一个自动行星寻找光度计，用于两个南极冬季。 根据对邻近太阳型恒星行星系统的统计，大约可以探测到10到15颗太阳系外行星。也有可能发现以前无法探测到的质量较低的行星。将凌日结果（给出行星的大小）与多普勒速度测量（给出行星的质量）相结合，将允许确定行星的密度，从而表明行星是像木星一样的气体巨星，像天王星一样的冰巨星，还是像地球一样的岩石行星。 这些数据将为行星结构和形成的理论模型提供至关重要的基本观测信息。

This project will operate a small optical telescope at the South Pole to search for and characterize extrasolar planets, by continuously following a southern Galactic star field with a Charge-Coupled Device photometer, searching for the periodic dimming that occurs as a planet transits its parent star. The recent discovery of many close-in giant exoplanets has expanded our knowledge of other planetary systems and has demonstrated how different such systems can be from the Solar System. However their discovery poses important questions about the effects of such planets on the presence of habitable planets. To date only one extrasolar planet - HD 209458b - has been observed to transit a parent star. This project has the potential for a tenfold increase in the number of extrasolar planets for which transits are observed. The South Pole is an excellent location to detect such planets because of the long winter night, during which randomly-phased transits can most efficiently be detected. Also, the constant altitude of a stellar field at the pole avoids large daily atmospheric extinction variations allowing for higher photometric precision and a search for smaller planets.Specifically, the project will establish an automated planet-finding photometer at the South Pole for two austral winter seasons. Based on the statistics of planetary systems of nearby solar-type stars, about ten to fifteen extrasolar planets should be detected. There is also a possibility of finding lower mass planets that have not previously been detectable. Combining the transit results (which give the size of the planet) with Doppler velocity measurements (which give the planetary mass) will allow determination of the planetary density, thus indicating whether the planet is a gas giant like Jupiter, an ice giant like Uranus, or a rocky planet like the Earth. These data will provide basic observational information that is vital to theoretical models of planetary structure and formation.