Grants related:
General
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
Members
Results
- Detection of He in the atmosphere of an exoplanet from the ground, published in Science
- Detection of a super-earth around Barnard star, published in Nature
- Detection of the first TESS planets, with several papers of high relevance
- Discovery of Na and Halpha features in the spectrum of KELT-20b with TNG
- 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.
Scientific activity
Related publications
-
SOPHIE velocimetry of Kepler transit candidates. XII. KOI-1257 b: a highly eccentric three-month period transiting exoplanet
In this paper we report a new transiting warm giant planet: KOI-1257 b. It was first detected in photometry as a planet-candidate by the Kepler space telescope and then validated thanks to a radial velocity follow-up with the SOPHIE spectrograph. It orbits its host star with a period of 86.647661 d ± 3 s and a high eccentricity of 0.772 ± 0.045
Santerne, A. et al.Advertised on:
112014 -
Spectroscopy of Hyades L dwarf candidates★
We present the results of photometric, astrometric, and spectroscopic follow-up of L dwarf candidates identified in the Hyades cluster by Hogan et al. We obtained low-resolution optical spectroscopy with the Optical System for Imaging and low-intermediate Resolution Integrated Spectroscopy spectrograph on the Gran Telescopio de Canarias for all 12
Lodieu, N. et al.Advertised on:
122014 -
Temperature constraints on the coldest brown dwarf known: WISE 0855-0714
Context. Nearby isolated planetary mass objects are beginning to be discovered, but their individual properties are poorly constrained because their low surface temperatures and strong molecular self-absorption make them extremely faint. Aims: We aimed to detect the near-infrared emission of the coldest brown dwarf (BD) found so far, WISE0855-0714
Beamín, J. C. et al.Advertised on:
102014 -
Investigation of a transiting planet candidate in Trumpler 37: An astrophysical false positive eclipsing spectroscopic binary star
We report our investigation of the first transiting planet candidate from the YETI project in the young (˜4 Myr old) open cluster Trumpler 37. The transit-like signal detected in the lightcurve of F8V star 2M21385603+5711345 repeats every 1.364894±0.000015 days, and has a depth of 54.5±0.8 mmag in R. Membership in the cluster is supported by its
Errmann, R. et al.Advertised on:
2014 -
Binary frequency of planet-host stars at wide separations. A new brown dwarf companion to a planet-host star
Aims: The aim of the project is to improve our knowledge on the multiplicity of planet-host stars at wide physical separations. Methods: We cross-matched approximately 6200 square degree area of the southern sky imaged by the Visible Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) Hemisphere Survey (VHS) with the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS)
Lodieu, N. et al.Advertised on:
92014 -
CoRoT-22 b: a validated 4.9 R⊕ exoplanet in 10-d orbit
The CoRoT satellite has provided high-precision photometric light curves for more than 163 000 stars and found several hundreds of transiting systems compatible with a planetary scenario. If ground-based velocimetric observations are the best way to identify the actual planets among many possible configurations of eclipsing binary systems, recent
Moutou, C. et al.Advertised on:
112014 -
The Penn State - Toruń Centre for Astronomy Planet Search stars. II. Lithium abundance analysis of the red giant clump sample
Context. Standard stellar evolution theory does not predict existence of Li-rich giant stars. Several mechanisms for Li-enrichment have been proposed to operate at certain locations inside some stars. The actual mechanism operating in real stars is still unknown. Aims: Using the sample of 348 stars from the Penn State - Toruń Centre for Astronomy
Adamów, M. et al.Advertised on:
92014 -
Revisiting the transits of CoRoT-7b at a lower activity level
The first super-Earth with measured radius discovered was CoRoT-7b and it has opened the new field of rocky exoplanet characterisation. To better understand this interesting system, new observations were taken with the CoRoT satellite. During this run 90 new transits were obtained in the imagette mode. These were analysed together with the previous
Barros, S. C. C. et al.Advertised on:
92014 -
Rossiter-McLaughlin Observations of 55 Cnc e
We present Rossiter-McLaughlin observations of the transiting super-Earth 55 Cnc e collected during six transit events between 2012 January and 2013 November with HARPS and HARPS-N. We detect no radial velocity signal above 35 cm s–1 (3σ) and confine the stellar v sin i sstarf to 0.2 ± 0.5 km s–1. The star appears to be a very slow rotator
López-Morales, M. et al.Advertised on:
92014 -
Discovery of a new Y dwarf: WISE J030449.03-270508.3
We present a new Y dwarf, WISE J030449.03-270508.3, confirmed from a candidate sample designed to pick out low-temperature objects from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) data base. The new object is typed Y0pec following a visual comparison with spectral standards, and lies at a likely distance of 10-17 pc. Its tangential velocity
Pinfield, D. J. et al.Advertised on:
102014 -
Transiting exoplanets from the CoRoT space mission. XXVI. CoRoT-24: a transiting multiplanet system
We present the discovery of a candidate multiply transiting system, the first one found in the CoRoT mission. Two transit-like features with periods of 5.11 and 11.76 d are detected in the CoRoT light curve around a main sequence K1V star of r = 15.1. If the features are due to transiting planets around the same star, these would correspond to
Alonso, R. et al.Advertised on:
72014 -
Trigonometric parallaxes of young field L dwarfs
Aims: We aim to determine the trigonometric parallaxes and proper motions of a sample of ten field L0-L5 dwarfs with spectroscopic evidence for low-gravity atmospheres. The ten sources were located in color-absolute magnitude diagrams and in the Hertzsprung-Russell (HR) diagram for age and mass derivations and were compared with field and star
Zapatero Osorio, M. R. et al.Advertised on:
82014 -
2MASS J154043.42-510135.7: a new addition to the 5 pc population
Aims: The aim of the project is to find the stars closest to the Sun and to contribute to the completion of the stellar and substellar census of the solar neighbourhood. Methods: We identified a new late-M dwarf within 5 pc, looking for high proper motion sources in the 2MASS-WISE cross-match. We collected astrometric and photometric data available
Pérez Garrido, A. et al.Advertised on:
72014 -
Confirmation of an exoplanet using the transit color signature: Kepler-418b, a blended giant planet in a multiplanet system
Aims: We announce confirmation of Kepler-418b, one of two proposed planets in this system. This is the first confirmation of an exoplanet based primarily on the transit color signature technique. Methods: We used the Kepler public data archive combined with multicolor photometry from the Gran Telescopio de Canarias and radial velocity follow-up
Tingley, B. et al.Advertised on:
72014 -
Blending the distinctions among groups of minor bodies: a portrait of the Centaur-comet "transition" object P/2010 C1 (Scotti)
Aims: We present a portrait of the active Centaur P/2010 C1 (Scotti), observed with a well developed comet-like activity (central diffuse coma condensation and an extended sharp tail-like structure) at the heliocentric distance of rh = 5.5 AU. Methods: We analyse multicolour (B, V, R, and I) images taken at the TNG telescope to characterise the
Mazzotta Epifani, E. et al.Advertised on:
52014 -
WTS-2 b: a hot Jupiter orbiting near its tidal destruction radius around a K dwarf
We report the discovery of WTS-2 b, an unusually close-in 1.02-d hot Jupiter (MP = 1.12MJ, RP = 1.30RJ) orbiting a K2V star, which has a possible gravitationally bound M-dwarf companion at 0.6 arcsec separation contributing ˜20 per cent of the total flux in the observed J-band light curve. The planet is only 1.5 times the separation from its host
Birkby, J. L. et al.Advertised on:
32014 -
Ground-based transit observations of the super-Earth GJ 1214 b
Context. GJ 1214 b is one of the few known transiting super-Earth-sized exoplanets with a measured mass and radius. It orbits an M-dwarf, only 14.55 pc away, making it a favorable candidate for follow-up studies. However, the composition of GJ 1214 b's mysterious atmosphere has yet to be fully unveiled. Aims: Our goal is to distinguish between the
Cáceres, C. et al.Advertised on:
52014 -
New constraints on the formation and settling of dust in the atmospheres of young M and L dwarfs
Context. Gravity modifies the spectral features of young brown dwarfs (BDs). A proper characterization of these objects is crucial for the identification of the least massive and latest-type objects in star-forming regions, and to explain the origin(s) of the peculiar spectrophotometric properties of young directly imaged extrasolar planets and BD
Manjavacas, E. et al.Advertised on:
42014 -
The GTC exoplanet transit spectroscopy survey . I. OSIRIS transmission spectroscopy of the short period planet WASP-43b<xref ref-type="fn" rid="FN1"><xref ref-type="fn" rid="FN2">⋆
Aims: In this work, we use long-slit spectroscopy observations of a transit event of the close-in orbiting planet WASP-43b (Mp = 2.034 MJup, Rp = 1.036 RJup) in an effort to detect its atmosphere. Methods: We used the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) instrument OSIRIS to obtain long-slit spectra in the optical range 520-1040 nm of the planetary host
Murgas, F. et al.Advertised on:
32014 -
Transiting exoplanets from the CoRoT space mission. XXV. CoRoT-27b: a massive and dense planet on a short-period orbit
Aims: We report the discovery of a massive and dense transiting planet CoRoT-27b on a 3.58-day orbit around a 4.2 Gyr-old G2 star. The planet candidate was identified from the CoRoT photometry, and was confirmed as a planet with ground-based spectroscopy. Methods: The confirmation of the planet candidate is based on radial velocity observations
Gandolfi, D. et al.Advertised on:
22014
