Spectroscopic Follow-Up Observations of Transiting Planet Candidates Identified by the Kepler Mission

Details Spectroscopic Follow-Up Observations of Transiting Planet Candidates Identified by the Kepler Mission Spectroscopic Follow-Up Observations of Transiting Planet Candidates Identified by the Kepler Mission

Dec 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006aas...20919103l&link_type=abstract

2007 AAS/AAPT Joint Meeting, American Astronomical Society Meeting 209, #191.03; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society,

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NASA's Kepler Mission is expected to identify many hundreds of transiting planet candidates in four years of continuous photometric monitoring of 100 square degrees in Cygnus and Lyra. To sort out true planets from eclipsing stellar systems that are masquerading as transiting planets, a variety of follow-up observations are planned. High resolution ground-based spectroscopy at modest signal-to-noise ratio will be used to detect orbital motion induced by stellar companions, for example by small M dwarf secondaries eclipsing solar-type primaries. The most challenging stellar imposters are blends of eclipsing binaries with nearby bright stars; even high-quality spectra may have difficulty resolving such systems. A workhorse for this initial phase of spectroscopic follow up will be TRES, a new fiber-fed echelle spectrograph on the 1.5-m Tillinghast Reflector at the Whipple Observatory. Ultimate confirmation of a transiting planet comes with the solution for a spectroscopic orbit and the derivation of an actual mass of the planet compared to the parent star. A primary goal of the Kepler Mission is to find earth-sized planets in or near the habitable zones of their host stars. The radial-velocity precision needed to derive spectroscopic orbits for the most interesting cases will require considerable improvement beyond 1 m/s. The Geneva Observatory and Harvard University have joined in a collaboration to develop such a capability at a northern site with access to the Kepler field of view. A version of the HARPS spectrograph, now in highly successful operation on the 3.6-m telescope at ESO on La Silla, is being built. Negotiations are underway to site HARPS North at the William Herschel Telescope operated by the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes on La Palma. The goal is to achieve velocity performance at the level of 20 cm/s and to push the determination of planetary masses into the terrestrial planet regime.

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