The MEarth Project to Detect Habitable SuperEarth Exoplanets

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

Scientific paper

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Scientific paper

By targeting nearby M dwarfs, a transit search using modest equipment is capable of discovering planets as small as 2 Earth radii in the habitable zones of their host stars. The discovery of such planets is important for two reasons: First, their transiting geometries permit direct estimates of the planetary masses and radii, and hence provide fundamental constraints on the physical structure of planets that are primarily rock and ice in composition. Second, by differencing spectra gathered when the planet is in view from those when it is occulted by the star, we can study the atmospheric chemistry of potentially habitable worlds. The MEarth Project will consist of 8 identical, automated 16-inch telescopes in a single enclosure at Mt Hopkins, AZ. Two of these telescopes have been in operation since January 2008. We will describe the target sample, survey design, and the current photometric precision, with the goal of demonstrating the feasibility of the ground-based detection of habitable exoplanets. We acknowledge funding from the David and Lucile Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering.

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