First Results of Exoplanet Observations with the Gran Telescopio Canarias: Narrow-Band Transit Photometry Capable of Detecting Super-Earth-size Planets

Details First Results of Exoplanet Observations with the Gran Telescopio Canarias: Narrow-Band Transit Photometry Capable of Detecting Super-Earth-size Planets First Results of Exoplanet Observations with the Gran Telescopio Canarias: Narrow-Band Transit Photometry Capable of Detecting Super-Earth-size Planets

Jan 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010aas...21542110f&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #215, #421.10; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 42, p.287

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Scientific paper

We present the first exoplanet observations from the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) using the OSIRIS tunable filter imager. Our narrow-band transit follow-up observations set a new record for ground-based, narrow-band photometric precision of an exoplanet transit. The demonstrated precision would allow the detection of a transiting super-Earth-sized planet at near-infrared wavelengths. Such high-precision follow-up observations could significantly improve measurements of the size and orbit of transiting super-Earth and Earth-like planets to be discovered by the CoRoT and Kepler space missions (Colon & Ford 2009).
OSIRIS is one of two first light instruments for the GTC and features a tunable filter imaging mode. We observed the planet's host star along with several nearby reference stars during each transit, rapidly alternating observations between multiple narrow band-passes. The GTC's large aperture results in small photon noise and minimal scintillation noise, so care must be taken to minimize other potential systematic noise sources. The use of a narrow bandpass (2nm) reduces the effects of differential extinction, and we chose bandpasses that minimize atmospheric absorption and variability. We measure the flux of the target star relative to an ensemble of reference stars, using an aperture photometry algorithm adapted to allow for: 1) the center of the band-pass varying across the field and resulting in sky rings, and 2) a significant defocus to reduce flat fielding uncertainties and increase observing efficiency. We present results from the first tunable filter observations of an exoplanet transit and outline the exciting prospects for future GTC/OSIRIS observations to study super-Earth planets and the atmospheres of giant planets via occultation photometry. Based on observations made with the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC), installed in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, in the island of La Palma.

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