Other
Scientific paper
Jun 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010sptz.prop70049d&link_type=abstract
Spitzer Proposal ID #70049
Other
Scientific paper
We propose a continuous 20.2-day photometric monitoring of the nearby M-dwarf star GJ1214b, known to host a transiting super-Earth inward of its habitable zone. The ultimate goal of our program is to detect a habitable world in this planetary system, and many other science goals can be accomplished during that search. Our program will observe 12 consecutive transits and eclipses of GJ1214b at 4.5-microns, thereby measuring its thermal emission, and improving our knowledge of the planetary radius and orbit, as well as quantifying the IR variability of the star. Our observations will be sensitive to moons and trojan planets, and to the presence of other transiting planets down to 0.45 Earth-radii (smaller than Mars). Our 20.2-day monitoring will cover orbits to the outer edge of the habitable zone. Some models of planetary formation predict that rocky planets are common orbiting M-dwarf stars. If these models are correct, then multi-planet systems may be the norm for lower main sequence stars. Our program has the significant potential to culminate by discovering a habitable rocky world transiting this nearby M-dwarf. That discovery would be of historic significance, and the major molecular constituents of such a world would be amenable to characterization by JWST.
Bonfils Xavier
Deming Drake
Demory Brice-Olivier
Gillon Michael
Seager Sara
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