Other
Scientific paper
May 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011aas...21832608n&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #218, #326.08; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 43, 2011
Other
Scientific paper
M dwarfs are the most promising candidates around which to find habitable, Earth-sized planets amenable to detailed spectroscopic study of their atmospheres by transmission or occultation methods. A correlation between stellar metallicity and planet occurrence has been demonstrated for F, G and K stars, with exoplanet detections rising sharply above solar metallicity. Recent results indicate that this relation holds for M-type stars; if correct, we would be able to increase the yield of planet surveys by targeting metal-rich stars. The MEarth Project is a transiting planet survey that is photometrically monitoring 2000 of the nearest M dwarfs in the Northern sky and which will expand in the next year to include an additional 2000 stars in the southern hemisphere. We will present the first results of a campaign to measure the metallicities of M dwarfs in the MEarth sample. We are using and refining a new method for measuring M dwarf metallicities pioneered by Rojas-Ayala et al. (2010) that uses moderate resolution mid-infrared spectra. Unlike other empirical methods for measuring M dwarf metallicities, it does not rely on parallaxes or accurate V-band magnitudes; thus, it may be applied to less luminous and more distant stars than can photometric methods. Our results will inform the MEarth target list and is an important element in the census of our nearest and most abundant neighbors.
ERN is supported by the National Science Foundation through a Graduate Research Fellowship.
Berta Zachory
Burke Chris
Charbonneau David
Dittman J.
Falco Emilio E.
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