Other
Scientific paper
Oct 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010dps....42.2732c&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #42, #27.32
Other
Scientific paper
The discovery of more than 490 planets orbiting stars other then the Sun (exoplanets) over the past 15 years has confirmed that the Sun is not unique among stars in hosting planets. However, this discovery is only a starting point in the quest to determine if life exists beyond our solar system. By far, most exoplanets have been discovered using the radial velocity technique, which employs the Doppler effect to measure small variations in a star's motion toward and away from the Earth. These motions can be the result of an exoplanet orbiting the star. The second most successful technique, exoplanet transit photometry, is able to detect planets that have orbits passing directly through the line of sight from Earth to the host star, causing a slight apparent dimming of the star during transit. More than 90 transiting exoplanets have been discovered to date. Furthermore, part of the star's light passes through the atmosphere of the planet. The resulting spectrum observed from Earth is the stellar spectrum combined with the transiting planet's atmospheric transmission spectrum. By comparing the out-of-transit pure stellar spectrum with the in-transit star+exoplanetary atmosphere spectrum, the exoplanet's atmospheric transmission spectrum is revealed. Strong atmospheric absorption lines and very high levels of signal-to-noise are required to detect the subtle signatures of the exoplanet's atmosphere. Alkali metals such as sodium (Na) and potassium (K) produce strong atomic absorption lines in the stellar light and should allow the detection of the exoplanet's atmosphere. We are conducting this research utilizing telescope facilities at Moore Observatory near Louisville, Kentucky and Mt. Kent Observatory near Toowoomba in Queensland, Australia. The combination of the northern and southern hemisphere sites provides complete sky coverage.
Collins Karen
Kielkopf John
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