Exoplanets and Astrobiology

    General
    Description

    The search for life in the universe has been driven by recent discoveries of planets around other stars (known as exoplanets), becoming one of the most active fields in modern astrophysics. The growing number of new exoplanets discovered in recent years and the recent advance on the study of their atmospheres are not only providing new valuable information about its physical properties, but also allowing to constrain the properties of the Solar system's planets within a more global context. The field is approaching to the important discovery of the first potentially habitable planets and encouraging more detailed studies of them. With the launching of upcoming related satellites like JWST, CHEOPS, TESS, ARIEL and PLATO, the exoplanets field faces a bright future.

    It is for this reason that this field is aid of, and at the same time promotes, the development of increasingly sensitive and stable instrumentation for both, ground-based telescopes and space missions. Our group is particularly prepared for these two fronts. On the one hand, during the last years we have developed observational and reduction techniques of exoplanet transits data for the ORM telescopes, ours being one of the most productive groups in the exploitation of GTC. On the other hand, all ESA space missions (present and future) related to exoplanets have one or more components of the project as CoIs. Within the frame of this project, we intend that IAC researchers maintain an advantageous position regarding the operation of OSIRIS and CanariCam, first light

    GTC's instruments, and participate in the construction, commissioning and operation of new instruments such as the high resolution optical spectrograph HORUS at GTC. The exploitation of the photometry and spectroscopy of transits with LIRIS at WHT is also one of our principal interests, especially in preparation for the installation in 2015 of EMIR on the GTC .

    To summarize, the project "Exoplanets and Astrobiology" will focus on these four action lines:

    1) The characterization of atmospheric and physical properties of exoplanets (GTC, WHT, ARIEL, HARPSN, CARMENES, ESPRESSO, etc. ..)

    2) The search and confirmation of exoplanets by transits techniques (CoRoT, Kepler, K2, CHEOPS, XO, LCOGT, W FC, DISH, etc. ..)

    3) The search and confirmation of exoplanet by radial velocity techniques (HARPSN, HORUS, LCOGT, SONG, CARMENES)

    4) Astrobiology

    Principal investigator
    Project staff
    1. Detection of He in the atmosphere of an exoplanet from the ground, published in Science
    2. Detection of a super-earth around Barnard star, published in Nature
    3. Detection of the first TESS planets, with several papers of high relevance
    4. Discovery of Na and Halpha features in the spectrum of KELT-20b with TNG
    5. Publication of the Handbook of Exoplanets, the most extensive work of reference in the field of exoplanets. The Handbook was edited by members of our group, and includes contributions by about 300 experts worldwide, including 12 members of IAC.

    Related publications

    • Three Super-Earths Transiting the Nearby Star GJ 9827

      We report on the discovery of three transiting planets around GJ 9827. The planets have radii of 1.75 ± 0.18, 1.36 ± 0.14, and {2.11}-0.21+0.22 R ⊕, and periods of 1.20896, 3.6480, and 6.2014 days, respectively. The detection was made in Campaign 12 observations as part of our K2 survey of nearby stars. GJ 9827 is a V = 10.39 mag K6V star at a

      Niraula, P.l et al.

      Advertised on:

      12
      2017
      Citations
      45
    • The Discovery and Mass Measurement of a New Ultra-short-period Planet: EPIC 228732031b

      We report the discovery of a new ultra-short-period planet and summarize the properties of all such planets for which the mass and radius have been measured. The new planet, EPIC 228732031b, was discovered in K2 Campaign 10. It has a radius of {1.81}-0.12+0.16 {R}\oplus and orbits a G dwarf with a period of 8.9 hr. Radial velocities obtained with

      Dai, F. et al.

      Advertised on:

      12
      2017
      Citations
      58
    • Tracking Advanced Planetary Systems (TAPAS) with HARPS-N. V. A Massive Jupiter orbiting the very-low-metallicity giant star BD+03 2562 and a possible planet around HD 103485

      Context. Evolved stars with planets are crucial to understanding the dependency of the planet formation mechanism on the mass and metallicity of the parent star and to studying star-planet interactions. Aims: We present two evolved stars (HD 103485 and BD+03 2562) from the Tracking Advanced PlAnetary Systems (TAPAS) with HARPS-N project devoted to

      Villaver, E. et al.

      Advertised on:

      10
      2017
      Citations
      6
    • Flare activity and photospheric analysis of Proxima Centauri

      Context. We present the analysis of emission lines in high-resolution optical spectra of the planet-host star Proxima Centauri (Proxima) classified as a M5.5V. Aims: We carry out a detailed analysis of the observed spectra to get a better understanding of the physical conditions of the atmosphere of this star. Methods: We identify the emission

      Pavlenko, Y. et al.

      Advertised on:

      10
      2017
      Citations
      19
    • Disproving the validated planets K2-78b, K2-82b, and K2-92b. The importance of independently confirming planetary candidates

      Context. Transiting super-Earths orbiting bright stars in short orbital periods are interesting targets for the study of planetary atmospheres. Aims: While selecting super-Earths suitable for further characterisation from the ground from a list of confirmed and validated exoplanets detected by K2, we found some suspicious cases that led to us

      Cabrera, J. et al.

      Advertised on:

      10
      2017
      Citations
      30
    • K2-114b and K2-115b: Two Transiting Warm Jupiters

      We report the first results from a search for transiting warm Jupiter exoplanets—gas giant planets receiving stellar irradiation below about 108 erg s‑1 cm‑2, equivalent to orbital periods beyond about 10 days around Sun-like stars. We have discovered two transiting warm Jupiter exoplanets initially identified as transiting candidates in K2

      Shporer, A. et al.

      Advertised on:

      11
      2017
      Citations
      18
    • The HARPS search for southern extra-solar planets. XLII. A system of Earth-mass planets around the nearby M dwarf YZ Ceti

      Exoplanet surveys have shown that systems with multiple low-mass planets on compact orbits are common. Except for a few cases, however, the masses of these planets are generally unknown. At the very end of the main sequence, host stars have the lowest mass and hence offer the largest reflect motion for a given planet. In this context, we monitored

      Astudillo-Defru, N. et al.

      Advertised on:

      9
      2017
      Citations
      55
    • Effect of the stellar absorption line centre-to-limb variation on exoplanet transmission spectrum observations

      Transit spectroscopy is one of the most commonly used techniques for exoplanet atmosphere characterisation. This technique has been used to detect ionised and neutral species in exoplanet atmospheres by comparing the observed stellar lines in and out of transit. The centre-to-limb variation (CLV) of the stellar lines across the stellar disk is an

      Yan, F. et al.

      Advertised on:

      7
      2017
      Citations
      68
    • K2-111 b - a short period super-Earth transiting a metal poor, evolved old star

      Context. From a light curve acquired through the K2 space mission, the star K2-111(EPIC 210894022) has been identified as possibly orbited by a transiting planet. Aims: Our aim is to confirm the planetary nature of the object and derive its fundamental parameters. Methods: We analyse the light curve variations during the planetary transit using

      Fridlund, M. et al.

      Advertised on:

      7
      2017
      Citations
      39
    • Using binary statistics in Taurus-Auriga to distinguish between brown dwarf formation processes

      Context. One of the key questions of the star formation problem is whether brown dwarfs (BDs) form in the manner of stars directly from the gravitational collapse of a molecular cloud core (star-like) or whether BDs and some very low-mass stars (VLMSs) constitute a separate population that forms alongside stars comparable to the population of

      Marks, M. et al.

      Advertised on:

      8
      2017
      Citations
      6
    • The GTC exoplanet transit spectroscopy survey . VII. An optical transmission spectrum of WASP-48b

      Context. Transiting planets offer an excellent opportunity for characterizing the atmospheres of extrasolar planets under very different conditions from those found in our solar system. Aims: We are currently carrying out a ground-based survey to obtain the transmission spectra of several extrasolar planets using the 10 m Gran Telescopio Canarias

      Murgas, F. et al.

      Advertised on:

      9
      2017
      Citations
      15
    • The Transiting Multi-planet System HD 3167: A 5.7 M ⊕ Super-Earth and an 8.3 M ⊕ Mini-Neptune

      HD 3167 is a bright (V = 8.9 mag) K0 V star observed by NASA’s K2 space mission during its Campaign 8. It has recently been found to host two small transiting planets, namely, HD 3167b, an ultra-short-period (0.96 days) super-Earth, and HD 3167c, a mini-Neptune on a relatively long-period orbit (29.85 days). Here we present an intensive radial

      Gandolfi, D. et al.

      Advertised on:

      9
      2017
      Citations
      54
    • Rotation periods and photometric variability of rapidly rotating ultracool dwarfs

      We used the optical and near-infrared imagers located on the Liverpool, the IAC80, and the William Herschel telescopes to monitor 18 M7-L9.5 dwarfs with the objective of measuring their rotation periods. We achieved accuracies typically in the range ±1.5-28 mmag by means of differential photometry, which allowed us to detect photometric variability

      Zapatero Osorio, M. R. et al.

      Advertised on:

      12
      2017
      Citations
      18
    • A deeper view of the CoRoT-9 planetary system. A small non-zero eccentricity for CoRoT-9b likely generated by planet-planet scattering

      CoRoT-9b is one of the rare long-period (P = 95.3 days) transiting giant planets with a measured mass known to date. We present a new analysis of the CoRoT-9 system based on five years of radial-velocity (RV) monitoring with HARPS and three new space-based transits observed with CoRoT and Spitzer. Combining our new data with already published

      Santerne, A. et al.

      Advertised on:

      7
      2017
      Citations
      11
    • Testing the existence of optical linear polarization in young brown dwarfs

      Linear polarization can be used as a probe of the existence of atmospheric condensates in ultracool dwarfs. Models predict that the observed linear polarization increases with the degree of oblateness, which is inversely proportional to the surface gravity. We aimed to test the existence of optical linear polarization in a sample of bright young

      Fang, M. et al.

      Advertised on:

      7
      2017
      Citations
      5
    • High-precision optical polarimetry of the accreting black hole V404 Cyg during the 2015 June outburst

      Our simultaneous three-colour (BVR) polarimetric observations of the low-mass black hole X-ray binary V404 Cyg show a small but statistically significant change of polarization degree (Δp ∼ 1 per cent) between the outburst in 2015 June and the quiescence. The polarization of V404 Cyg in the quiescent state agrees within the errors with that of the

      Miles-Páez, Paulo A. et al.

      Advertised on:

      7
      2017
      Citations
      23
    • Limits to the presence of transiting circumbinary planets in CoRoT Data

      Aims: During its flight phase, from 2007-2012, the CoRoT mission delivered light curves for over 2000 eclipsing binaries. Data from the Kepler mission have proven the existence of several transiting circumbinary planets. While light curves from CoRoT typically have lower precision and shorter coverage, the number of CoRoT targets is similar to that

      Almenara, J. M. et al.

      Advertised on:

      6
      2017
      Citations
      16
    • Feature-rich transmission spectrum for WASP-127b. Cloud-free skies for the puffiest known super-Neptune?

      Context. WASP-127b is a planet with one of the lowest densities discovered to date. With a sub-Saturn mass (Mp = 0.18 ± 0.02 MJ) and super-Jupiter radius (Rp = 1.37 ± 0.04 RJ), it orbits a bright G5 star that is about to leave the main-sequence. Aims: We aim to explore the atmosphere of WASP-127b in order to retrieve its main atmospheric components

      Casasayas-Barris, N. et al.

      Advertised on:

      6
      2017
      Citations
      27
    • New ultracool subdwarfs identified in large-scale surveys using Virtual Observatory tools (Corrigendum). I. UKIDSS LAS DR5 vs. SDSS DR7

      Based on observations made with ESO Telescopes at the La Silla Paranal Observatory under programme ID 084.C-0928A.Based on observations made with the Nordic Optical Telescope, operated on the island of La Palma jointly by Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de

      Lodieu, N. et al.

      Advertised on:

      1
      2017
      Citations
      0
    • The GTC exoplanet transit spectroscopy survey. V. A spectrally-resolved Rayleigh scattering slope in GJ 3470b

      Aims: As a sub-Uranus-mass low-density planet, GJ 3470b has been found to show a flat featureless transmission spectrum in the infrared and a tentative Rayleigh scattering slope in the optical. We conducted an optical transmission spectroscopy project to assess the impacts of stellar activity and to determine whether or not GJ 3470b hosts a

      Chen, G. et al.

      Advertised on:

      4
      2017
      Citations
      40

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