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

    • It Takes Two Planets in Resonance to Tango around K2-146
      K2-146 is a cool, 0.358 ${M}_{\odot }$ dwarf that was found to host a mini-Neptune with a 2.67 day period. The planet exhibited strong transit timing variations (TTVs) of greater than 30 minutes, indicative of the presence of an additional object in the system. Here we report the discovery of the previously undetected outer planet in the system, K2
      Lam, Kristine W. F. et al.

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      3
      2020
      Citations
      15
    • GJ 1252 b: A 1.2 R<SUB>⊕</SUB> Planet Transiting an M3 Dwarf at 20.4 pc
      We report the discovery of GJ 1252 b, a planet with a radius of 1.193 ± 0.074 ${R}_{\oplus }$ and an orbital period of 0.52 days around an M3-type star (0.381 ± 0.019 ${M}_{\odot }$ , 0.391 ± 0.020 ${R}_{\odot }$ ) located 20.385 ± 0.019 pc away. We use Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) data, ground-based photometry and spectroscopy
      Shporer, Avi et al.

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      2
      2020
      Citations
      34
    • Mass determinations of the three mini-Neptunes transiting TOI-125
      The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, TESS, is currently carrying out an all-sky search for small planets transiting bright stars. In the first year of the TESS survey, a steady progress was made in achieving the mission's primary science goal of establishing bulk densities for 50 planets smaller than Neptune. During that year, the TESS's
      Nielsen, L. D. et al.

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      3
      2020
      Citations
      33
    • USco1621 B and USco1556 B: Two wide companions at the deuterium-burning mass limit in Upper Scorpius
      Aims: Our objective is to identify analogues of gas giant planets, but located as companions at wide separations of very young stars. The main purpose is to characterise the binarity frequency and the properties of these substellar objects, and to elucidate their early evolutionary stages. Methods: To identify these objects, we cross correlated the
      Chinchilla, Patricia et al.

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      1
      2020
      Citations
      10
    • The CARMENES search for exoplanets around M dwarfs. The He I triplet at 10830 Å across the M dwarf sequence
      The He I infrared (IR) triplet at 10 830 Å is an important activity indicator for the Sun and in solar-type stars, however, it has rarely been studied in relation to M dwarfs to date. In this study, we use the time-averaged spectra of 319 single stars with spectral types ranging from M0.0 V to M9.0 V obtained with the CARMENES high resolution
      Fuhrmeister, B. et al.

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      12
      2019
      Citations
      18
    • Precise radial velocities of giant stars. XIII. A second Jupiter orbiting in 4:3 resonance in the 7 CMa system
      We report the discovery of a second planet orbiting the K giant star 7 CMa based on 166 high-precision radial velocities obtained with Lick, HARPS, UCLES, and SONG. The periodogram analysis reveals two periodic signals of approximately 745 and 980 d, associated with planetary companions. A double-Keplerian orbital fit of the data reveals two
      Luque, R. et al.

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      11
      2019
      Citations
      8
    • Three Red Suns in the Sky: A Transiting, Terrestrial Planet in a Triple M-dwarf System at 6.9 pc
      We present the discovery from Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) data of LTT 1445Ab. At a distance of 6.9 pc, it is the second nearest transiting exoplanet system found to date, and the closest one known for which the primary is an M dwarf. The host stellar system consists of three mid-to-late M dwarfs in a hierarchical configuration
      Winters, Jennifer G. et al.

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      10
      2019
      Citations
      72
    • He I λ 10 830 Å in the transmission spectrum of HD209458 b
      Context. Recently, the He I triplet at 10 830 Å was rediscovered as an excellent probe of the extended and possibly evaporating atmospheres of close-in transiting planets. This has already resulted in detections of this triplet in the atmospheres of a handful of planets, both from space and from the ground. However, while a strong signal is
      Alonso-Floriano, F. J. et al.

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      9
      2019
      Citations
      98
    • A super-Earth and two sub-Neptunes transiting the nearby and quiet M dwarf TOI-270
      One of the primary goals of exoplanetary science is to detect small, temperate planets passing (transiting) in front of bright and quiet host stars. This enables the characterization of planetary sizes, orbits, bulk compositions, atmospheres and formation histories. These studies are facilitated by small and cool M dwarf host stars. Here we report
      Günther, Maximilian N. et al.

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      7
      2019
      Citations
      99
    • Ionized calcium in the atmospheres of two ultra-hot exoplanets WASP-33b and KELT-9b
      Ultra-hot Jupiters are emerging as a new class of exoplanets. Studying their chemical compositions and temperature structures will improve our understanding of their mass loss rate as well as their formation and evolution. We present the detection of ionized calcium in the two hottest giant exoplanets - KELT-9b and WASP-33b. By using transit
      Yan, F. et al.

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      12
      2019
      Citations
      98
    • Spectral library of age-benchmark low-mass stars and brown dwmarfs
      In recent years, some extremely red brown dwarfs have been discovered. They were believed to have a low surface gravity, but many of their spectral characteristics are similar to those of high-surface-gravity brown dwarfs, showing that the spectral characteristics of young brown dwarfs are poorly understood. We aim to test surface-gravity
      Manjavacas, E. et al.

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      2
      2020
      Citations
      10
    • MuSCAT2 multicolour validation of TESS candidates: an ultra-short-period substellar object around an M dwarf
      Context. We report the discovery of TOI 263.01 (TIC 120916706), a transiting substellar object (R = 0.87 R Jup) orbiting a faint M3.5 V dwarf (V = 18.97) on a 0.56 d orbit. Aims: We setout to determine the nature of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) planet candidate TOI 263.01 using ground-based multicolour transit photometry. The
      Parviainen, H. et al.

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      1
      2020
      Citations
      34
    • The Habitability of GJ 357D: Possible Climate and Observability
      The GJ 357 system harbors three planets orbiting a bright, nearby M2.5V star at 9.44 pc. The innermost planet, GJ 357b (TOI-562.01), is a hot transiting Earth-sized planet with Earth-like density, which receives about 12 times the irradiation Earth receives from the Sun, and was detected using data from TESS. Radial velocities discovered two more
      Kaltenegger, L. et al.

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      10
      2019
      Citations
      6
    • Kojima-1Lb Is a Mildly Cold Neptune around the Brightest Microlensing Host Star
      We report the analysis of additional multiband photometry and spectroscopy and new adaptive optics (AO) imaging of the nearby planetary microlensing event TCP J05074264+2447555 (Kojima-1), which was discovered toward the Galactic anticenter in 2017 (Nucita et al.). We confirm the planetary nature of the light-curve anomaly around the peak while
      Fukui, A. et al.

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      11
      2019
      Citations
      27
    • MASCARA-3b. A hot Jupiter transiting a bright F7 star in an aligned orbit
      We report the discovery of MASCARA-3b, a hot Jupiter orbiting its bright (V = 8.33) late F-type host every 5.55149 ± 0.00001 days in an almost circular orbit (e = 0.050 -0.017 +0.020). This is the fourth exoplanet discovered with the Multi-site All-Sky CAmeRA (MASCARA), and the first of these that orbits a late-type star. Follow-up spectroscopic
      Hjorth, M. et al.

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      11
      2019
      Citations
      12
    • A giant exoplanet orbiting a very-low-mass star challenges planet formation models
      Surveys have shown that super-Earth and Neptune-mass exoplanets are more frequent than gas giants around low-mass stars, as predicted by the core accretion theory of planet formation. We report the discovery of a giant planet around the very-low-mass star GJ 3512, as determined by optical and near-infrared radial-velocity observations. The planet
      Morales, J. C. et al.

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      9
      2019
      Citations
      100
    • Near-resonance in a System of Sub-Neptunes from TESS
      We report the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite detection of a multi-planet system orbiting the V = 10.9 K0 dwarf TOI-125. We find evidence for up to five planets, with varying confidence. Three transit signals with high signal-to-noise ratio correspond to sub-Neptune-sized planets (2.76, 2.79, and 2.94 R ⊕), and we statistically validate the
      Quinn, Samuel N. et al.

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      11
      2019
      Citations
      44
    • Radial velocity confirmation of K2-100b: a young, highly irradiated, and low-density transiting hot Neptune
      We present a detailed analysis of HARPS-N radial velocity observations of K2-100, a young and active star in the Praesepe cluster, which hosts a transiting planet with a period of 1.7 d. We model the activity-induced radial velocity variations of the host star with a multidimensional Gaussian Process framework and detect a planetary signal of 10.6
      Barragán, O. et al.

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      11
      2019
      Citations
      56
    • Two New HATNet Hot Jupiters around A Stars and the First Glimpse at the Occurrence Rate of Hot Jupiters from TESS
      Wide-field surveys for transiting planets are well suited to searching diverse stellar populations, enabling a better understanding of the link between the properties of planets and their parent stars. We report the discovery of HAT-P-69 b (TOI 625.01) and HAT-P-70 b (TOI 624.01), two new hot Jupiters around A stars from the Hungarian-made
      Zhou, G. et al.

      Advertised on:

      10
      2019
      Citations
      101
    • Water vapor detection in the transmission spectra of HD 209458 b with the CARMENES NIR channel
      Aims: We aim at detecting water vapor in the atmosphere of the hot Jupiter HD 209458 b and perform a multi-band study in the near infrared with CARMENES. Methods: The water vapor absorption lines from the atmosphere of the planet are Doppler-shifted due to the large change in its radial velocity during transit. This shift is of the order of tens of
      Sánchez-López, A. et al.

      Advertised on:

      10
      2019
      Citations
      55

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