Subvenciones relacionadas:
General
La búsqueda de vida en el Universo se ha visto impulsada por los recientes descubrimientos de planetas alrededor de otras estrellas (los llamados exoplanetas), convirtiéndose en uno de los campos más activos dentro de la Astrofísica moderna. En los últimos años los descubrimientos cada vez más numerosos de nuevos exoplanetas y los últimos avances en el estudio de sus atmósferas no sólo están dándonos valiosa nueva información sobre sus propiedades físicas, sino que nos están permitiendo además poner las propiedades de los planetas de nuestro Sistema Solar dentro un contexto más global. El campo esta acercándose al importante descubrimiento de los primeros planetas potencialmente habitables, impulsando estudios más detallados de estos planetas. Con el lanzamiento de las nuevas misiones como JWST, CHEOPS, TESS, ARIEL o PLATO, al campo de exoplanetas se le plantea un futuro muy excitante.
Es por esta razon que este campo se ayuda de y, a su vez motiva, el desarrollo de instrumentación cada vez más sensible y estable tanto para telescopios de tierra como para las misiones espaciales. Dos frentes para los que nuestro grupo esta especialmente preparado. Por un lado, durante los ultimos años hemos desarrollado tecnicas de observacion y reduccion de transitos de exoplanetas para los telescopios del ORM, siendo el nuestro uno de los grupos mas productivos en la explotacion de GTC. Por otro lado, todas las misiones espaciales ESA (presentes y futuras) relacionadas con exoplanetas cuentan con uno o varios de los componentes del proyecto como CoIs.
En el marco de este proyecto, pretendemos que los investigadores del IAC mantengan una situación aventajada con la explotación de OSIRIS y EMIR, instrumentos de primera luz de GTC, y participen en la construcción, comisionado y operación de nuevos instrumentos, como el espectrografo óptico de alta resolución HORUS en el GTC. La explotacion de la fotometria y espectroscopia de transitos con LIRIS en el WHT es tambien uno de nuestros principales intereses, especialmente en preparacion de la instalacion en 2015 del instrumento EMIR en el GTC.
En resumen, el proyecto "Exoplanetas y Astrobiologia" se centrará entorno a estas cuatro lineas principales de actuacion:
1) Caracterización de las propiedades fisicas y atmosfericas de exoplanetas (GTC, WHT, HARPSN, CARMENES, ESPRESSO, ARIEL etc.)
2) Búsquedas y confirmacion de exoplanetas por transitos (CoRoT, Kepler, K2, CHEOPS, XO, LCOGT, WFC, PLATO, etc.)
3) Busquedas/ confirmacion de exoplanetas por velocidad radial (HARPSN, HORUS, LCOGT, SONG, CARMENES)
4) Astrobiología
Miembros
Resultados
- Deteccion de He en la atmosfera de un exoplaneta por primera vez, publicado en Science.
- Deteccion de un planeta entorno a la estrella de Barnard, publicado en Nature
- Deteccion de los primeros planetas del la mision TESS, con varios articulos de impacto
- Descubrimiento de rasgos de Na y Halpha en el espectro de KELT-20b con el TNG
- Publicación del Handbook of Exoplanets, la obra de referencia más extenso en el campo de los exoplanetas. Este Manual fue editado por miembros de nuestro grupo e incluye contribuciones de unos 300 expertos en todo el mundo, incluidos 12 miembros de IAC.
Actividad científica
Publicaciones relacionadas
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Rotationally resolved spectroscopy of (20000) Varuna in the near-infraredContext. Models of the escape and retention of volatiles by minor icy objects exclude any presence of volatile ices on the surface of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) smaller than ~1000 km in diameter at the typical temperature in this region of the solar system, whereas the same models show that water ice is stable on the surface of objects over aEmery, J. P. et al.
Fecha de publicación:
22014 -
Simultaneous optical and near-infrared linear spectropolarimetry of the earthshineAims: We aim to extend our current observational understanding of the integrated planet Earth spectropolarimetry from the optical to the near-infrared wavelengths. Major biomarkers like O2 and water vapor are strong flux absorbents in the Earth's atmosphere, and some linear polarization of the reflected stellar light is expected to occur at thesePallé, E. et al.
Fecha de publicación:
22014 -
Intermittent Dust Mass Loss from Activated Asteroid P/2013 P5 (PANSTARRS)We present observations and models of the dust environment of activated asteroid P/2013 P5 (PANSTARRS). The object displayed a complex morphology during the observations, with the presence of multiple tails. We combined our own observations, all made with instrumentation attached to the 10.4 m Gran Telescopio Canarias on La Palma, with previouslyPozuelos, F. et al.
Fecha de publicación:
22014 -
Observational results for eight long-period comets observed far from the SunContext. With this work we start a systematic analysis of the distant activity of several long-period comets in order to investigate the evolution of activity throughout the solar system and explore differences between comets that pass their perihelion at far or very close distances from the Sun. Aims: We present observational data for eight longDall'Ora, M. et al.
Fecha de publicación:
12014 -
Thermophysical properties of near-Earth asteroid (341843) 2008 EV5 from WISE dataAims: We derive the thermal inertia of 2008 EV5, the baseline target for the Marco Polo-R mission proposal, and infer information about the size of the particles on its surface. Methods: Values of thermal inertia were obtained by fitting an asteroid thermophysical model to NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) infrared data. Grain sizeDelbo, M. et al.
Fecha de publicación:
12014 -
Characterizing the Purple Earth: Modeling the Globally Integrated Spectral Variability of the Archean EarthOngoing searches for exoplanetary systems have revealed a wealth of planets with diverse physical properties. Planets even smaller than the Earth have already been detected and the efforts of future missions are aimed at the discovery, and perhaps characterization, of small rocky exoplanets within the habitable zone of their stars. Clearly, what weMontañés-Rodríguez, P. et al.
Fecha de publicación:
12014 -
A deep WISE search for very late type objects and the discovery of two halo/thick-disc T dwarfs: WISE 0013+0634 and WISE 0833+0052A method is defined for identifying late-T and Y dwarfs in WISE down to low values of signal-to-noise. This requires a WISE detection only in the W2-band and uses the statistical properties of the WISE multiframe measurements and profile fit photometry to reject contamination resulting from non-point-like objects, variables and moving sources. ToLucas, P. W. et al.
Fecha de publicación:
12014 -
Uncovering the Deeply Embedded Active Galactic Nucleus Activity in the Nuclear Regions of the Interacting Galaxy Arp 299We present mid-infrared (MIR) 8-13 μm spectroscopy of the nuclear regions of the interacting galaxy Arp 299 (IC 694+NGC 3690) obtained with CanariCam (CC) on the 10.4 m Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC). The high angular resolution (~0.''3-0.''6) of the data allows us to probe nuclear physical scales between 60 and 120 pc, which is a factor of 10Alonso-Herrero, A. et al.
Fecha de publicación:
122013 -
Does the diurnal temperature range respond to changes in the cosmic ray flux?}Recent studies have suggested that measurements of the diurnal temperature range (DTR) over Europe may provide evidence of a long-hypothesized link between the cosmic ray (CR) flux and cloud cover. Such propositions are interesting, as previous investigations of CR–cloud links are limited by data issues including long-term reliability and viewLaken, B. A et al.
Fecha de publicación:
42013 -
Composite analysis with Monte Carlo methods: an example with cosmic rays and cloudsThe composite (superposed epoch) analysis technique has been frequently employed to examine a hypothesized link between solar activity and the Earth's atmosphere, often through an investigation of Forbush decrease (Fd) events (sudden high-magnitude decreases in the flux cosmic rays impinging on the upper-atmosphere lasting up to several days). ThisLaken, B. A. et al.
Fecha de publicación:
92013 -
Earthshine observations at high spectral resolution: exploring and detecting metal lines in the Earth's upper atmosphereObservations of the Earth as a planet using the earthshine technique (i.e. looking at the light reflected from the dark side of the Moon) have been used for climate and astrobiology studies. They provide information about the planetary albedo, a fundamental parameter of the Earth's energy balance. Here we present, for the first time, observationsGonzález-Merino, B. et al.
Fecha de publicación:
112013 -
Kepler-77b: a very low albedo, Saturn-mass transiting planet around a metal-rich solar-like star⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆We report the discovery of Kepler-77b (alias KOI-127.01), a Saturn-mass transiting planet in a 3.6-day orbit around a metal-rich solar-like star. We combined the publicly available Kepler photometry (quarters 1-13) with high-resolution spectroscopy from the Sandiford at McDonald and FIES at NOT spectrographs. We derived the system parameters via aGandolfi, D. et al.
Fecha de publicación:
92013 -
High angular resolution imaging and infrared spectroscopy of CoRoT candidatesContext. Studies of transiting extrasolar planets are of key importance for understanding the nature of planets outside our solar system because their masses, diameters, and bulk densities can be measured. An important part of transit-search programmes is the removal of false-positives. In the case of the CoRoT space mission, the majority of theGuenther, E. W. et al.
Fecha de publicación:
82013 -
Linear polarization of rapidly rotating ultracool dwarfsAims: We aim to study the near-infrared linear polarization signal of rapidly rotating ultracool dwarfs with spectral types ranging from M7 through T2 and projected rotational velocities of v sin i ≳ 30 km s-1. These dwarfs are believed to have dusty atmospheres and oblate shapes, which is an appropriate scenario to produce measurable linearMiles-Páez, P. A. et al.
Fecha de publicación:
82013 -
TraMoS project - III. Improved physical parameters, timing analysis and starspot modelling of the WASP-4b exoplanet system from 38 transit observationsWe report 12 new transit observations of the exoplanet WASP-4b from the Transit Monitoring in the South (TraMoS) project. These transits are combined with all previously published transit data for this planet to provide an improved radius measurement of Rp = 1.395 ± 0.022Rjup and improved transit ephemerides. In a new homogeneous analysis in searchHoyer, S. et al.
Fecha de publicación:
92013 -
Transiting exoplanets from the CoRoT space mission. XXIV. CoRoT-25b and CoRoT-26b: two low-density giant planetsWe report the discovery of two transiting exoplanets, CoRoT-25b and CoRoT-26b, both of low density, one of which is in the Saturn mass-regime. For each star, ground-based complementary observations through optical photometry and radial velocity measurements secured the planetary nature of the transiting body and allowed us to fully characterizeAlmenara, J. M. et al.
Fecha de publicación:
72013 -
A sensitivity analysis of the WFCAM Transit Survey for short-period giant planets around M dwarfsThe WFCAM Transit Survey (WTS) is a near-infrared transit survey running on the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT), designed to discover planets around M dwarfs. The WTS acts as a poor-seeing backup programme for the telescope, and represents the first dedicated wide-field near-infrared transit survey. Observations began in 2007 gathering JKovács, Gábor et al.
Fecha de publicación:
82013 -
Two Super-Earths Orbiting the Solar Analog HD 41248 on the Edge of a 7:5 Mean Motion ResonanceThere are a growing number of multi-planet systems known to be orbiting their host stars with orbital periods that place them in mean motion resonances (MMRs). These systems are generally in first-order resonances and dynamical studies have focused their efforts on understanding the origin and evolution of such dynamically resonantJenkins, J. S. et al.
Fecha de publicación:
72013 -
Searching for planetary transits around M dwarfs with telescope networksAs of today, hundreds of extrasolar planets have been discoverd, and thousands of candidates are waiting for confirmation. Although we already have discovered dozens of the least massive planets (the so called super-Earths), only a few have been found to be orbiting low mass stars, and only one that actually transist a bright M star. Here, wePalle, E. et al.
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42013 -
CoRoT 101186644: A transiting low-mass dense M-dwarf on an eccentric 20.7-day period orbit around a late F-star. Discovered in the CoRoT lightcurvesWe present the study of the CoRoT transiting planet candidate 101186644, also named LRc01_E1_4780. Analysis of the CoRoT lightcurve and the HARPS spectroscopic follow-up observations of this faint (mV = 16) candidate revealed an eclipsing binary composed of a late F-type primary (Teff = 6090 ± 200 K) and a low-mass, dense late M-dwarf secondary onTal-Or, L. et al.
Fecha de publicación:
52013