Ultraviolet Line Eclipses by Extrasolar Planets

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

Scientific paper

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Hst Proposal Id #7508 Cool Stars

Scientific paper

One of the most exciting events in Astronomy last year was the discovery of extrasolar planets. Even more exciting was the character of these planets. Several were found to be around the mass of Jupiter, yet located extremely close to their stars {4 day orbital periods}. While no other plausible explanation for the Doppler variations which signal their presence has been found, it would obviously be very important if we could confirm the presence of physical bodies in orbit, and begin to study their properties. Though there is reason to believe these systems are seen almost edge on, direct eclipses by the planets have been ruled out. The planets are likely to be losing a lot of hydrogen from their exospheres due to their proximity to the stars. We will look for eclipses due to Lyman alpha clouds around the short period planets orbiting 51 Peg and Tau Boo. The expected size of the Lyman- alpha clouds gives us 4 times the range of orbital inclination in which to see eclipses. We will observe the stars during two consecutive transits to distinguish between intrinsic variability and perodic phenomena. This experiment has a plausible chance of succeeding, with very exciting results if it does.

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