Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Jan 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011aas...21722006b&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #217, #220.06; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 43, 2011
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
1
Scientific paper
The small radii and cool temperatures of M dwarfs make them favorable targets for transiting planet surveys of habitable-zone Earth and super-Earth planets. The MEarth survey has detected a super-Earth orbiting the nearby M5 star GJ 1214 and estimated the planetary mass and radius precisely. Despite this success, the MEarth survey encounters photometric noise larger than expected based upon Poisson and scintillation sources alone. I have identified precipitable water vapor (PWV) variations in the Earth's atmosphere as the likely predominant source of excess systematic noise in the MEarth survey photometry. Based upon theoretical calculations of the PWV induced noise, I show potential filter choices that eliminate PWV induced noise to a sufficient level to detect transiting Earth-sized planets from the ground around M dwarf hosts. Ciardi et al. (2010) have recently shown from Kepler data that the intrinsic variability of M dwarfs does not preclude transit detection. Thus, I am optimistic that there are no fundamental limitations to ground based detections of habitable-zone Earths for the brightest M dwarfs. The MEarth project is supported by the David and Lucile Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering and the National Science Foundation under grant number AST-0807690.
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