Placing our Solar System in Context Through the Characterization of Long-Period Exoplanets

该项目称为凌日星历精化和监测调查，将确定改进的轨道信息，以便为中长期行星提供更准确的凌日窗口，并在预测的凌日时间进行后续观测。对新发现的系外行星的高精度径向速度和光度测量将用于确定行星的组成和测试行星形成模型。 PI和他的合作者将专注于长周期（P 20天）行星，由于偏向较短周期（由于观测限制），这些行星已被排除在大多数其他研究之外。凌日行星的轨道倾角使它们看起来像是从主星星前面经过，因此暂时阻挡了一些星光。 凌日提供了测量行星相对于主星星的相对半径和质量的特殊机会，这对确定行星的密度和组成很有用。该项目将导致测量一组系外行星，其中知之甚少？也就是说，离主星星较远的温度较低、质量较小的行星。 这将为系外行星数据库提供一个重要的平衡，目前系外行星数据库中有大量的？热水壶，？到目前为止，这些行星更容易观测，并提供了更多的机会来观测太阳系中距离木星和土星更近的行星。此外，提供的星历数据和光变曲线将对社区中的其他天文学家有用。

This project, which is called the Transit Ephemeris Refinement and Monitoring Survey (TERMS), will determine improved orbital information in order to provide more accurate transit windows for intermediate-to-long-period planets with subsequent observational follow-up at the predicted transit times. High precision radial-velocity and photometric measurements of the newly identified exoplanets will be used to determine planetary composition and test models of planetary formation. The PI and his collaborators will focus on long-period (P 20 days) planets, which have been excluded from most other studies due to a bias toward shorter periods (due to observational constraints). Transiting planets have orbital inclinations which cause them to appear to pass in front of their host star, and thus temporarily block some of the starlight. Transits provide special opportunities to measure the relative radii and masses of planets compared to the host star, which is useful to determining planetary density and composition. This project will result in measurements of a group of exoplanets for which very little is known ? namely, cooler and less-massive planets that are farther from their host star. This will provide an important balance to exoplanet databases, which are currently heavy with ?hot Jupiters,? which to now have been easier to observe, and provide more opportunities to observe planets which are closer to Jupiter and Saturn in our solar system. Additionally, the ephemeris data and light-curves provided will be useful to other astronomers in the community.