Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Dec 2007
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007aas...21113416h&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #211, #134.16; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 39, p.970
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
We are carrying out the ASPENS (Astrometric Search for Planets Encircling Nearby Stars) program using the CTIO 0.9m telescope in an effort to discover unseen companions to 100 nearby stars. The CCD camera used yields substantial improvement in the detection of low mass companions over the classic studies done using photographic plates. We have accumulated up to 8 years of astrometric data on 85 red dwarfs and 14 white dwarfs, primarily at southern declinations and within 10 parsecs. The target list includes 39 new solar neighbors revealed to be closer than 10 parsecs by the RECONS team.
With consistent (and significant) observing time as part of the SMARTS Consortium, we have been able to discover new companions with masses between 0.20 Msun and 4 Mjup. The latter is the first confirmed discovery of an extrasolar planet via astrometry. We have also detected the planet through HET iodine cell radial velocity work.
Nearby red dwarfs are prime candidates for NASA's SIM PlanetQuest because the astrometric perturbations are largest for planets orbiting nearby stars of low mass. In addition, new multiple red dwarf systems can be targeted for mass determinations, thereby providing points on a comprehensive mass-luminosity relation for the most populous members of the Galaxy.
These long-term observations began in 1999 as an NOAO Surveys program, and are continuing via the SMARTS Consortium. This work has been supported by the National Science Foundation (AST 98-20711 and 05-07711), NASA's SIM PlanetQuest, Georgia State University, and Northern Arizona University.
Bean Jacob L.
Benedict George F.
Henry Todd J.
Ianna Philip A.
Jao Wei Chun
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