Astrometric Mass Determination of an Extrasolar Planet Candidate

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

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Hst Proposal Id #9240

Scientific paper

We will perform astrometric observations that will allow us to quickly measure the sky-plane motion of 55 Cancri, a G star with an Msin{i} = 0.9 MJ radial velocity companion with a 14 day period. By using 7 pairs of visits, where each visit within a pair has the same parallax factor, we will be able to acurately determine the stars's proper motion. The reflex motion of the star, due to its orbit about the star-companion barycenter, will manifest itself as a systematic residual to the measured proper motion if the companion is sufficiently massive. Using data from the Hipparcos mission and from the MAP at the Allegheny Observatory, Hans finds a 2.3 mas peak-to-peak reflex motion for this star. The FGS astrometry will confirm or refute these observations as we will be able to detect any reflex motion down to 0.4 mas. If a large mass is found for the companion, we will have demonstrated that at least a few of the stars thought to have planetary companions actually have stellar or brown dwarf companions, and the that the sample of stars being scrutinized for planetary companions is infact biased.

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